


Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by m00n_river



Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Azkaban, Boggarts, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Dementors, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreams vs. Reality, Fluff, Good Slytherins, Gryffindor, Gryffindor/Slytherin Inter-House Relationships, Hippogriffs, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Hogwarts Third Year, Legends, Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban, M/M, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, POV Alternating, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Third Person, Patronus Charm (Harry Potter), Post-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Powerful Draco Malfoy, Powerful Harry, Powerful Harry Potter, Professor Remus Lupin, Prophecy, Quidditch, Sirius Black Free from Azkaban, Slytherin, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Pride, Visions in dreams, Werewolves, Zonko's Joke Shop (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 29,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26138200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m00n_river/pseuds/m00n_river
Summary: Lucius Malfoy has escaped from Azkaban, and Draco may know something about it. How long can you keep fighting off your instincts?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847842
Comments: 186
Kudos: 291





	1. Chapter One

Remus Lupin and Draco Malfoy stood at the entrance of the highest security prison in the Wizarding World in sickly awe of their surroundings. The dementors haunted every wall, every distant echo of a scream, every shallow breath. Draco couldn’t remember the last time he had touched Harry’s warm skin, or the last time he had sat in the kitchen with his dads, drinking hot chocolate, even though it had only happened the night before. Still, this was something that he needed to do.

“You know you don’t have to, Draco, you don’t owe him anything.” said Remus, turning to his son. 

“I do, dad.” Draco replied decidedly. “I know it seems strange, but I know that I do.” 

“Okay then.” 

At his command, the gates opened with an ominous creek. Guards lined the walls, still and unmoving, like corpses. The pair forced their feet onwards, following their assigned Auror, to the cell of Lucius Malfoy. 

Draco didn’t remember his father, only his mother, and even then it was only snippets. But he owned a silver rattle that he kept in his bedside drawer, with the Malfoy crest emblazoned on it’s side, a gift from him, the only thing he still had. But no amount of heirlooms could have prepared him for the sight of what looked like an older version of himself, wasting away like a hollow shell, slumped in the corner of a dark, damp prison cell. His eyes prickled with tears but he held them back, this was something that he needed to do. 

“Draco…?” There came a hollow whisper from the corner where the man lay and he crawled painfully slowly to the division. Between them was only a magically enchanted barrier, impenetrable but completely translucent. Draco could see every wrinkle, every fragment, every eyelash, and they all felt like an aged mirror. 

“Yes, it’s me.” he managed to say in a surprisingly steady voice. 

The corners of Lucius’s mouth curled not quite upwards to create a grimace that displayed his yellow teeth. “What are you doing here, boy?” 

“Moony, could I please speak with him alone?” Draco asked. 

The man looked wary and bit his lip, but nodded once he dissected his son’s imploring expression. “Just don’t touch the barrier, remember?” 

“I remember.” 

Once he left, Draco turned back to the man he could have called a father, in another life. 

“Draco,” Lucius leered. “Why are you here? Come to get to know your daddy?” 

Draco shivered, the world seemed endlessly cold. “I want to talk to you.” 

“So talk.” 

He didn’t quite know where to begin. He had so many questions, some he would prefer to remain unanswered, like what exactly made him so threatening to Voldemort, but there were some others, like what his mother was like before Azkaban, what they had hoped for him in the future, although he could probably guess that one. 

“How about I talk first, Draco, would you like that?” His father’s voice was so icy, so persuasive, it reminded him of his own. The now greasy, silver hair was the exact shade of his own, the nose, the mouth, almost everything on the face, besides the eyes, which weren’t as silvery as his own, more flat and lifeless, but that could be down to the dementors more than anything else. 

“Okay.” he answered in a trembling voice. 

“Can I ask you a question, Draco?” The boy nodded his head. “Is your name still Malfoy?” 

“Yes.” 

“Why?” _Why?_ That was a good question. Draco had been offered by Moony and Pads countless times to change his name to Draco Lupin-Black, and he wanted to, but never did. 

“I don’t know.” he lied easily, not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of the real answer. 

“Come on, Draco, you can tell me.” Lucius jeered. 

“What are you looking for here? What do you want from me? Entertainment? Closure?” snapped Draco, eyes wild and stormy. 

Lucius growled. “I want my son to tell me the truth.” 

“I’m not your son anymore.” 

This shut him up. He sat back down on the floor from where he had unknowingly risen, and looked at Draco as though he were a bug on the bottom of his shoe. 

“Little Draco, there is so much you don’t know.” 

“And I don’t want to know, thank you very much.” 

“Why not?” probed Lucius, he seemed intent on figuring the boy out. “I still don’t understand why you’re here. You don’t want to give me any forgiveness or sympathy, you don’t want answers. Don’t you want to know why everyone is scared of you? Why nobody wanted to be your friend when you were little? You know, from what I hear, even Voldemort himself is afraid of you. So why don’t you want to know why?” 

Draco felt as though someone was holding a blinding light up to his eye and yanking his hair, pressing him for answers. His throat closed up but he still managed to keep the tears at bay. 

“I’m done with this visit now.” he said, barely above a whisper. “This is the last time we will ever speak.” 

“Oh.” Lucius gasped, the faint ghost of a smile haunting his lips. “I see.” He licked his lips with a slimy tongue, Draco sneered. “I know exactly why you’re here. Draco, my son, you have more power than any of your ancestors, you have the blood of the greatest witches and wizards in the world running through your veins, don’t fight it. Let it consume you.” 

“I will never be like you.” Draco screamed, throat raw from holding back tears, which now flooded free. “Ever.” 

“You can’t stop it, child.” Lucius’s voice was hushed and cold. “The more you fight it, the stronger it gets. That is how the prophecy tells it.” 

“I don’t care, I will not end up like this. EVER!” 

Draco slammed his fist against the barrier, causing a shock wave to ripple through it. He retracted his arm and stared in horror at what he had done. Lucius Malfoy had a genuine smile on his face, although it was tainted by the manic gleam in his eyes. 

“Again, Draco. Let the anger take over.” 

Draco’s vision was blurred with tears and pure anger, he had never felt a hatred like this before, not even for Voldemort. Part of him was disgusted at this new feeling, and continued to flash images of Christmases by the heath with his family, of Harry after catching the Snitch in that final Quidditch game and kissing him like he would never get another opportunity, of Pads teaching him to ride a broom, but the other part of him was revelling in it, basking in the feeling, begging Draco to let go and to let it take over. Lucius was saying something to him but he genuinely didn’t care what the content of those words were, all he knew was that his father was the worst type of a person, a waste, a mistake. He wished with all his being that they weren’t related but it didn’t change the fact that looking at him was like looking into the future and it was soul-destroying. 

A warm weight on his shoulder brought Draco into consciousness. He was in bed, at home, lying in a pool of cold sweat. Moony and Pads were crouched next to him, checking him over with worried glances. 

“Draco? Draco, are you okay? You’re awake now, you're fine, you’re okay.” Sirius soothed him. 

Draco was panting, hard. It had felt so real, it was, wasn’t it? 

“We’re back?” 

“Back from where, honey?” Remus asked, breaking off a few chunks of chocolate and handing it to him. 

As he ate, Draco responded. “Azkaban.” 

Sirius visibly shuddered. “Why would we go to Azkaban, little star?” 

“Oh…” said Draco softly, heart still pounding like a runaway train. “Must’ve been the dream then.” 

"Are you okay?” 

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.” 

Draco finished his chocolate and tried to get back to sleep, but it would not come, so they stayed up until the morning, drinking hot chocolate, and playing Exploding Snap and Wizard’s Chess. Everything seemed far behind them until the Daily Prophet was chucked through their window by Perseus, along with an urgent letter. 

Draco started to scan the Prophet as his dads read the letter, but stopped immediately at the photograph on the front and the accompanying headline. It was picture of Lucius Malfoy, holding a plaque with his name and number on it, above it was written: 

_**BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN**_


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So happy you guys enjoyed the first chapter!! <3

Harry’s summer was actually going really well. He decided to stay with McGonagall, purely because she seemed to really want him to, and he felt safer with someone that he knew, but the Weasleys came over frequently for big games of Quidditch, the Professor herself joined in too as she was apparently a Chaser back in her day.

It took him a while to get used to the rabid Gryffindor-ness of it all, but after a bit he realised that Percy, Fred and George should have probably been in Slytherin, with their ambition and cunning, and that the Sorting Hat took over five minutes to sort Professor McGonagall because she was equally a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, and that Arthur Weasley had a lot of Hufflepuff traits, so overall it wasn’t that bad. 

He had yet to meet the two oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie, but he liked the rest of the children a lot. 

Ginny wasn’t bad at all once you got to know her, she was actually really cool, once she had stopped blushing and thanking him profusely, and an amazing Chaser. 

Ron was just as he remembered him, after he apologised for making such a snap judgement about him, they ended up becoming really close, closer than they were before, even. 

Fred and George were hilarious, hurling endless pranks at their brothers, there was even a moment where Harry was sure that McGonagall had helped them with a discreet flick of her wrist. 

Percy wasn’t as fun, he spent most of his time doing extra credit work, but he still leaped at the chance to be the referee in their games, probably for the sense of total control it gave him. 

Molly was lovely. She was a total mother hen and fussed around him in a way that made his heart long for his own mother, but he still welcomed it nonetheless, even though the rest of the Weasleys seemed to resent it. 

Arthur was probably Harry’s favourite, though. He was absolutely fascinated by muggle objects, and spent ages getting Harry to explain things to him in the most adorable way. Harry actually really liked it, it made him feel smart and he loved seeing the look of utter wonder in the man’s face when he saw a paperclip or a clicky pen in action. 

Overall, Harry was so happy. He missed Draco with all his heart, and his dads, but he managed to find ways to forget, Quidditch, exploring the castle, feasts. He wished that he was doing it all with Draco, of course, but the Weasleys weren’t a bad substitute, and he liked having more people in his corner. 

It was all shattered however when he woke up one morning to find McGonagall in distress and disarray. 

“Oh, Harry, there you are.” she said, darting around her office. It had become routine for Harry to come and fetch her every morning for breakfast before he went down so he wouldn’t have to eat alone. 

“Are you okay, Professor?” he asked, noticing how she had retrieved a quill and some parchment from her shelves and was hastily penning a letter. “Would you like me to go and get you some coffee?” 

“Oh, Harry, bless you, but that’s fine, I just need to write this letter.” She carried on scribbling until she finally sealed it and looked up to see Harry still in the doorway. “Do you want to come with me to the Owlery so I can post this, Harry? Then we can go down to breakfast.” 

Harry didn’t have time to reply so followed her, keeping at a bit of a jog in order to keep up. 

“Professor?” he panted slightly. “What’s the matter?” 

“I’ll explain it at breakfast, Harry.” 

They sent the owl off with strict instructions to return as quickly as possible, and then walked down to the Great Hall, where they always enjoyed a quiet breakfast while discussing future plans and the Daily Prophet. 

When they sat, at the Slytherin table today, and started eating, McGonagall finally spoke. 

“Harry, I want to tell you this before the owls arrive with the morning post,” she began. Harry started to really worry, had something happened to one of the Lupin-Blacks? To Draco? But before he could continue to fall down this spiral, she continued. “Lucius Malfoy, Draco’s father, has escaped from Azkaban.” 

Harry nearly dropped his fork. “Oh my gosh! Is Draco okay?” 

“Well, I just sent a letter to the Lupin-Blacks to check in, so we’ll see.” McGonagall started arranging her knives and forks in a specific pattern. “Harry, I am sure that Draco has told you why his father was arrested.” Harry nodded. “Well, a few years ago, some Aurors discovered that, along with association with You-Know-You, and probably under his orders, Lucius Malfoy murdered three muggles and a witch while they were in their house.” 

Harry inhaled quickly in shock and carefully placed down his knife. “Does Draco know?” 

“Yes, he does.” she nodded gravely. “Draco has been made aware of all of his father’s crimes, I just think that he prefers not to mention that one.” Harry understood. He could still remember their conversation about their parents, the one that happened on the very first night at Hogwarts. He remembered Draco saying that everyone expected him to grow up just like his parents, did everyone expect Draco to be some murderer? Harry could see why Draco wouldn’t exactly broadcast that information, especially not to a boy he had only met that night. 

“Huh.” He was beyond words. 

“This means that security will probably be heightened when we start. I’ll be having a meeting with Professor Dumbledore later today to discuss it.” There was a slight tremble behind her words that she hid well, but Harry had had a lot of practice holding back tears, and could hear when someone was doing it. It seemed a little inappropriate for him to give her a hug but he tried to put on his most reassuring smile. 

After a few moments of silence where neither knew quite what to say, they were saved by the rustle of two owls flying down to the table - Hedwig, carrying with her a copy of the Daily Prophet, and a Hogwarts owl, carrying what was probably the response to the letter McGonagall had written earlier. They each took their things and Harry slid a knut into Hedwig's pouch and gave her a treat before they headed off. 

Harry wasted no time checking the headline, which was, as expected, about the breakout. He had never seen Lucius Malfoy before and was stunned by the resemblance he had to his son. No, he wasn’t beautiful like Draco, but you could see that beauty maybe once resided in his features, but that Voldemort ripped it from him. His face was contorted into a grim snarl as he glared daggers at the camera, Draco had never made that face. Harry didn’t think that Draco was capable. 

The article itself just said that he disappeared early in the morning under mysterious circumstances. 

“How strange,” Harry murmured, eyes still glued to the paper. “how do you think he got out?” 

McGonagall looked up from the letter and surveyed him keenly. “I don’t know, Harry. I wish I did.” 

“What does the letter say? Is Draco alright?” 

The teacher lay the letter aside and fussed around with her butter while responding. “He’s fine, tense apparently. It seems he had some dream last night about Lucius and now he doesn’t know what to think.” 

Harry could see in his mind’s eye the image of Draco curled up in a ball on his bed, darting his gaze to the door every few seconds. It made his heart pang. “Can we invite them for a game today?” he suggested. “We need someone to fill the spot you’re going to leave empty!” 

She seemed to consider this for a while. Harry had started picking up on habits his Professor had, things that he had internally dubbed ‘McGonagallisms’ (he also had ‘Dracoisms’ as another folder in his brain), one of them was a squint in her right eye whenever she was thinking about something really hard, and a flicker in her left eye whenever she was tired. She sighed and lay down her cutlery. “Okay but we’re going to get some Aurors to supervise you, Lucius will probably want to see his son first.” 


	3. Chapter Three

Draco had been touchy and sensitive all morning. Remus had tried to cheer him up with chocolate but it still seemed fruitless. Seeing their son so anxious, made Sirius and Remus anxious too, but felt that some sunshine and a good game of Quidditch would be good for all of them, so accepted McGonagall’s kind invitation.

Draco begged Sirius to stay with him and play the game so Remus was going to go to the meeting with Dumbledore and McGonagall alone and report back. He waited to see his son greet his best friend again, if only for the fact that it was too darn sweet. 

They rushed towards each other and hugged like their lives depended on it, squeezing the last of the air left in their lungs. It was good to know that Draco wasn’t alone, especially at a time like this. He bid his farewells and started the trek to his former headmaster’s office. 

He knew the place like the back of his hand now, after the many, _many_ times he had to come in and issue a verbal beating to the old wizard for countless things. It was relieving to know that it wasn’t exactly Dumbledore’s fault this time. 

The man conjured a dark oak round table, big enough for the people present, and four chairs around it. Each party got themselves settled. 

“We’re just waiting on Cornelius, who should be here any second.” They all looked around to the fire where, sure enough, seconds later, a portly man clambered out. He said his hellos with a grave expression and sat in the vacant spot. 

“Mr Lupin-Black, I am very sorry this has happened.” he said, in a clipped tone. Remus was taken aback, firstly because he hadn’t expected an apology, the Ministry tended to place the blame on others, secondly, because people of high position in the Ministry often treated him as some type of subhuman species, and finally because nobody ever really addressed him as ‘Lupin-Black’. It was always just ‘Lupin’. Or ‘Filth’. 

“Thank you for your apology, Mr Fudge, this is going to be very hard on my family.” It really was. He genuinely did not know how they were going to cope. 

“Please, call me Cornelius.” said Fudge. 

“Of course, and you may call me Remus.” The Minister nodded in assent and returned to ‘Professional Leader Mode’. 

“If Mr Malfoy Jr. is to attend school at Hogwarts this year, there must be some changes regarding security.” he cleared his throat and started unpacking his briefcase, which seemed to be filled with loose papers and legal documents. “We could have Aurors here at all times, but they are extremely valuable to us, you must understand, and I think Hogwarts would need an army.” 

“What do you suggest then?” Dumbledore said, stroking his chin. 

“It isn’t ideal but, we were thinking, Dementors.” 

A deadly silence fell over the table until McGonagall slammed her fist on it. “Absolutely not!” she yelled. “Hogwarts is not Azkaban! Imagine if one of the students thinks it's funny to go and mess around with them, what if they end up scarred for life by it? Or kissed, even? We have no way of controlling the creatures!” 

“Minerva, I’m sure that the students will understand how dangerous they are if we explain it to them!” said Dumbledore urgently, attempting to soothe her. 

“Absolutely not! Imagine how awful it would be, to have them so close all the time!” 

“They won’t be that close, we’ll keep them far enough away!” 

“May I ask a question, Professor?” Remus intercepted, holding up his hand as if to pause their conversation. He waited for Dumbledore to nod before continuing. “What will happen to Lucius Malfoy if he is found?” 

“The Dementors will be under strict orders to bring him to us. The Wizengamot will decide his fate from there.” Fudge replied instead. 

“Could he get the kiss?” 

The Minister averted his eyes to his lap and nodded. “That is definitely a possibility.” Remus didn’t quite know what to say. He could understand now why Sirius didn’t want to go to the meeting - he didn’t want to talk about the kiss. 

“What is the latest regarding the public’s support of my position here?” Remus asked openly, he wanted to know whether he would be forced to watch over his son from a distance again. 

“It’s better,” said Fudge. “But, Remus, I urge you to take it anyway. We all know what Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter can do and they need the support of a close friend.” 

“You know about Harry?” 

“Dumbledore told me at the end of their first year, he felt that the situation had become a little more unmanageable.” Dumbledore’s lips quirked wryly, of course he had told the Minister. “So what do you say, Remus? Will you take the job?” 

Remus wasn’t sure. He didn’t much like the idea of teaching in a class of privileged pure-blood brats, who wouldn’t listen to him simply because he answered to the moon’s strict rules, but Draco needed him. As did those privileged pure-blood brats, they needed somebody to teach them a better way of viewing the world. They needed a competent Defense teacher. “Yes, but on one condition.” 

“Name it.” 

“I am keyed in on every meeting, no exceptions.” Remus demanded. “Even if you’re going to tell me that there’s another secret chamber,” he listed on his fingers. “a potentially dangerous creature, a professor who may or may not have a mass murderer sucking their soul or possessing them, that includes the use of Polyjuice or the Imperius curse, pretty much anything Voldemort.” Fudge and McGonagall shuddered. “I want to know about _anything_ pertaining to Draco and Harry, and I mean anything. None of this will work if we don’t keep communicating.” 

Every member of the table nodded. “That seems fair.” Fudge said. He then extended his hand for a shake. “Congratulations, Professor Lupin-Black.” 


	4. Chapter Four

_1972:_  
Remus was nearly asleep.

And it wasn’t even because of this stupidly boring lecture he was enduring - although, under normal circumstances, he would be fighting off the waves of sleep all the same. There was something about a tough transformation that made everything else in life seem utterly pointless. When the full moon rolled around, there just wasn’t any room in his head for Warlock Conventions or Assemblies of European Wizards, all he thought about was blood and ripping things and generally being much more wolf than human. 

He felt an urgent pat on his shoulder from Peter, who seemed to be paying attention more than usual. 

“Are you okay, Rem?” he hissed. 

Remus rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I’m fine, Pete. Just tired.” 

The boy seemed to take this a passable excuse and returned to his staring into nothingness. As did Remus. 

_Merlin._ He was truly exhausted. It didn’t help that he spent the night in the Hospital Wing and had to wake up early in order to return to his dorm unsuspected. There was a moment when he returned where he felt sure that Sirius had seen him, but if he had he’d done a great job at pretending he hadn’t all day. 

Finally, the bell rang to signal the end of class and he debated asking McGonagall for a lesson pass so that he could head to bed early, but knew that if he did that his friends would get suspicious and his sleep schedule would be messy for a while, it would be too much of a hassle. 

“Rem!” James called, prancing down the halls, followed by Sirius, who was bounding after him like a dog. 

“Hey.” he replied in a monotone. James didn’t seem to notice, he rarely did. 

“So, we had an idea.” he rambled on. 

“Back in Binn’s class - saw you were sleeping, Rem, don’t blame you. That was definitely one of his more boring classes.” Sirius panted, grinning like a loon. 

“Fine.” smiled Remus warmly, finally feeling a little more awake. “What’s the idea?” 

“So, Rem, has this ever crossed your mind?” James started with an entrepreneurial double handed gesture that appeared to unfold the inner workings of his plan, which turned out to be something to do with a kind of spell that splattered paint on your chest so that he and Sirius could duel without either of them taking damage. 

“You have literally just described paintball.” Remus deadpanned. 

“What’s that?” 

As he jumped into the logistics of the sport with James, Remus noticed Sirius gazing at him unflinchingly out of the corner of his eye. 

“So those gun thingys aren’t illegal in Muggle America? That’s barbaric!” James exclaimed. 

Remus grimaced. “Yeah and it’s a bit of an issue…” 

They carried on walking down the hall to Transfiguration while Remus explained gun laws to his friend, Sirius finally did stop staring at him, save for a few worried glances here and there, but he was honestly too tired to care much. 

The rest of the day passed by at a dreadfully slow pace. He felt like he was walking through cement with every step he took, and it became increasingly difficult to hide the wince every time he trod on his bad leg. The second that dinner was over, Remus staggered as quickly and painlessly as he could to his dorm where he didn’t even bother putting on pyjamas before he collapsed onto his bed. Thankfully, none of his roommates decided to disturb him, not even Sirius, who gave him a detailed play-by-play of all of his antics religiously, every night before bed. 

He slept for Merlin knows how long and awoke to the familiar achy feeling of muscles well-used. That was one good thing about being a werewolf - you were forced to exercise. 

*** 

As Remus got older, the gaps between the transformations seemed to get shorter. In no time, he was making his way down to the shack with Madame Pomfrey at his side, through the secret tunnel Dumbledore had built. They were a little off with the timing though, because the changing started halfway down. 

It was agony, every time. Like his heart didn’t quite fit in his chest and was trying to break free, as though it were trying to escape the horror that was his body. Screaming out in agony did nothing to relieve the pain, but he couldn’t help it. 

Madame Pomfrey bravely grasped at his arm and shoved him through the secret entrance, slamming the door behind him. Just like that, he was alone in the dark, dank room, with nothing but his own putrid mind poisoning his actions. 

It was hard to keep track of it all when he really got started. There was a lot of smashing and screaming and clawing desperately at his chest where his heart had seemed to constrict. When he felt the urge to sink his teeth into warm, human flesh, he sufficed himself with his arms. It hurt, but it was miniscule in comparison to everything else that he was feeling. 

Once it was finally over, he fell, like a paper doll onto the floor, choking on the bitter taste of his own blood, and the saltiness of tears. He never usually cried. Somewhere along the line, he became numb to the pain. He wept now for the loss of his childhood, the normal life he could have had, for the secret he held onto with everything he had, the disappointment in his father’s eyes when they saw each other, the confusion in Sirius’s when he explained his monthly disappearances, the knowledge that disgust could so easily replace it with one slip of the tongue. He wept out of exhaustion. Sheer, brutal, raw exhaustion that made his teeth chatter, jaw ache and bones shiver. He wept because he didn’t see much left to live for, and for the knowledge that he could never bring himself to lose hope that someday there would be. 

Madame Pomfrey did arrive, carefully hiding her shock at the gouges in his arms. He didn’t really pay her much attention, even though he should. The poor woman had her work cut out for her tonight. Instead, he just let her levitate his body down the passage, which cleverly led directly into her office, and then to the Hospital Wing. 

“You’ll be here for about a day probably, sweetheart, okay?” she whispered, voice low for the sake of the other patients. It would take him a lot of energy to tilt his head in a weak attempt at a nod, and she understood, so gave him a kind pat and got to work healing his wounds. 

While she worked, Remus’s mind drifted into a strange half-asleep montage of happy moments. The day he met Sirius, James and Peter on the train, the day they figured out how to get into the kitchens and spent the night gorging on everything they could find, Christmas that year when James gave everyone the new Sleakeazy’s hair potion and Sirius spent the next month and a half advertising it to everyone who would show even the slightest interest, even Lily Evans, to James’s humiliation. It was these thoughts that calmly transitioned him from the dark veil of night to the harsh judgement of day. 

*** 

The ‘harsh judgement of day’ however, came sooner than expected. He was having a lovely dream about chocolate and brand new parchment, only being occasionally accosted by the image of a mangled animal carcass or the full moon, when some hushed whispers snaked into his subconscious and he simply had to crack open an eye to see what all the fuss was about. To his immense shock, it was the upper halves of three Gryffindors, lurking at the end of his bed, shushing each other. 

“I just don’t understand why you brought snacks, Pete.” sighed James in exasperation. 

“What?” the stout boy replied, mouth full of Merlin-knows-what. “I was hungry.” 

James looked over to Sirius, seemingly expecting an answer, only to find him gazing down at Remus with a blank expression. He seemed to come to a realisation. 

“Sorry, Rem.” he whispered. “We woke you up, didn’t we?” Remus tentatively sat up, trying to avoid his wounds and rubbed his eyes clear of groggy sleep-dust, as his mother used to call it. 

“Yes, but it’s okay.” It wasn’t really, their presence was exceedingly alarming and he was in no position to be coming up with any elaborate lies in this moment at all, but what was he going to do? He was sure that the bite marks and scratches were obvious, and that he was clearly not ‘okay’. 

“We’re so sorry!” said Sirius despairing, still keeping his voice low. “We shouldn’t have snooped, we were just so worried about you!” _Shit._ They were worried. What did that mean? How much did they know? Remus stayed silent, allowing his friends to reveal more information before he did anything rash. 

“Yeah, sorry. We didn’t know it was this bad.” said Peter, but James elbowed him silent. 

“You didn’t know what was so bad?” Remus asked, deciding to play dumb and hope that the problem would fix itself. 

James sighed and moved to stand near Sirius, still keeping the cloak hanging loosely around his waist for a quick getaway if they needed it. “Well…” he stammered, looking guilty. “We were really worried about you. You disappear once a month and when you come back you seem really tired and sometimes you seem hurt so we did some investigating.” Remus was tense. _If they knew, why would they be here? They must not know, how could they know?_

Sirius’s eyes were dark and bore into his like lasers. He spoke in the tiniest voice Remus had ever heard him use. “I thought that maybe it was a problem at home.” The ball dropped in Remus’s head. _Oh_ , he thought. He didn’t know quite how to convey to Sirius that it wasn’t the case, and he didn’t have to, James came to his rescue. 

“But then I explained to Sirius that Dumbledore would be doing something about it, if that were the case.” Remus exhaled, but seized up again when he realised that they were still building up to something. 

“What are you guys talking about?” he choked, eyes prickling. 

“Remus, you know you can tell us anything.” James said. It wasn’t often that Remus saw them like this. Peter had stopped trying to swallow that stupid amount of food, James was calm, and Sirius was quiet. It was unnerving. He wished that they would all just cut the crap and shame him for his disease already. 

Still, he nodded stiffly. 

Peter was the one who actually said something. “Are you a werewolf?” he asked, expression as pure and oblivious as the day he was born. 

Remus couldn’t breath. His throat had constricted and he physically could not move. A warm hand on his shoulder and the soothing voice of Sirius telling him to breathe was helping minutely, but his brain was still on overdrive. 

“How- how…” He coughed and tried again, paying no heed to the hot tears spilling from his eyes. “How did you know?” 

They all had concerned expressions on their faces as Sirius continued to rub circles on his back and shoulder. He didn’t understand why they weren’t angry. Or at least scared. But they all seemed to only care about him in a kind way, which was confusing and overwhelming but also comforting and he didn’t know what to feel. 

“We matched up the days you left to the dates of the full moon, we looked up werewolves in the restricted section, and we came here today just to check on you, we hadn’t meant to scare you or let you know that we knew anything, we’re sorry.” he rambled, eyes fixed on the ground. It was so strange, James never looked guilty. 

“Sorry?” Remus asked incredulously. “Why are you sorry? I’ve tricked you guys, you’ve been living with a monster for two years, you should be furious!” He was gasping for air now, his lungs twinging slightly at the lack of air being transferred into them. In his peripheral vision, Remus could see Sirius pouring a glass of water and passing it to him, which he gratefully accepted and then chugged down. He felt physically better, but his mind still felt like someone was blasting sixty different songs at full volume and was shouting along to the lyrics. 

James huffed and sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’re not a monster, Rem.” 

Sirius continued with the soothing motions and murmured in agreement. 

“But, I don’t understand, is this some kind of joke? Why aren’t you scared?” 

They all smiled warmly and crowded around his side of the bed. “Remus,” Sirius started. “If you’re a monster, then so am I. And so is James, and Pete. We’re best friends, we stick together through anything.” 

The trio didn’t stay very long, knowing that their friend needed to sleep off his eventful night, but their visit left a golden ball of hope in Remus’s chest. Life wasn’t all bad, not so long as he had his friends in his life. 

* * * * * 

Remus had only three memories in his life that were powerful enough to cast a Patronus. First, his wedding, specifically the moment when their lips met after James had announced that they were legally married, Remus knew then that even if he died in the war, he would do it happily so long as he died knowing that he was joined to the love of his life for all eternity. Second, the day that Draco turned seven, when he finally looked around to see the family he had longed for all his life, when he realised that he had what he’d daydreamed about having, but never thought he would. And third, the day that little ball of hope first sprouted in his chest, melting the chains that constricted his heart, lighting the way to a brighter tomorrow. If that memory hadn’t happened, Remus wasn’t sure if he would have lived to experience the other two. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? I'm planning some more Marauders Era chapters but idk...


	5. Chapter Five

Draco didn’t really want to play Quidditch, he just wasn’t in the mood. And if Draco wasn’t in the mood, it turned out that Harry wasn’t either. Instead, they found a place in the stands to sit and talk, so that they could occasionally show an interest in the game, but mostly so that they weren’t overheard.

“So, how are you?” Harry asked when they got settled. 

“I’m...fine.” he replied, nodding. But Harry could see right through him. 

“You sure?” 

Draco shook his head ruefully. “I’m scared.” His voice was weak, wavering and trembling tearfully. Harry engulfed him in a hug and allowed him to bury his head in his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He probably could have cried, but he’d done enough of that and it made him feel like he was on display. Instead, he just told Harry what he was scared to tell his dads. “I’m scared because I look just like him. I’m scared because I think he’s going to come after me. I’m scared because I think I let him out. I’m scared because the dream felt so real.” 

“What happened in the dream?” Draco could feel the vibrations in his friend’s throat as he spoke. 

He raised his head and looked deep into Harry’s eyes, absorbing the emerald green-ness as much as he possibly could, focusing on that rather than the image of a man who looked exactly like him on the cover of the Daily Prophet, growling like a beast of some kind. How had he never noticed the darker green flecks in the middle? Or the contrast between the colour and the whites of his eyes and colour of his skin and the way that it blended to make the most wonderful palette. Draco watched in wonder as his pupils dilated, leaving only a slim ring of bright green. 

“I don’t know.” he whispered. “I got angry. He said things to me and he asked me questions that I didn’t want to answer, so I slammed my fist against the barrier and I think it broke or something, but the Prophet says that he got out under mysterious circumstances.” 

“Draco, we don’t know how he got out, but you didn’t have anything to do with it. This was all just some big coincidence, all you need to be worried about now is keeping yourself safe.” His voice was like hot chocolate on a cold day. It warmed Draco up on the inside so much that he needed to get closer. He leaned forward and connected their lips in a sweet, unhurried kiss. It wasn’t like the last one they shared, hurried and messy and full of adrenaline, but it wasn’t any less passionate. He reached his hand up and tangled it in Harry’s messy hair, tugging him even closer. The boy obliged and responded by cupping Draco’s face with a warm hand. It only lasted about twenty seconds, and Draco wished it could have gone on for longer, but the presence of his dad put an end to it. 

Sirius coughed pointedly. “When you two are finished.” he smirked, eyes glittering. The pair separated with a blush and giggled nervously. “The twins and I are going to go and annoy Peeves, do you want to come?” Suddenly, Draco felt lighter, more carefree, and he agreed, dragging Harry along with him. 

“Dad, tell Harry your news!” he exclaimed. 

“Oh, right, well.” Sirius cleared his throat for dramatic effect. “I have been promoted to manager at the Hogsmeade branch of Zonko’s!” 

Harry grinned and congratulated him as both of the twins rushed over. 

“What was that about Zonko’s?” one of them, Fred, Draco thought, asked. 

“I’m going to be the manager of the Hogsmeade branch!” 

The twins cheered and clapped him on the back. “That’s amazing!” 

“We’ll visit you when we go into the village!” 

“Do we get a discount?” 

“No, you do not get a discount.” Sirius chided. The chatter became background noise as Harry and Draco paired up again to walk behind them. 

“Are you feeling better now?” asked Harry. 

Draco took a moment to think about it. “...Yeah. I think I am.” 

His breath was stolen by the joyful twinkle in Harry’s eyes. “I’m glad.” 

*** 

Draco squealed and ran over to his father when he heard the news. 

“You’re going to be amazing, dad, I just know it!” 

Sirius smiled at the two people he loved most in the world. Moony had told him about accepting the teaching position at Hogwarts as Harry and Draco were saying their dramatic goodbyes, as if they weren’t going to see each other again in a week. He was thrilled, of course, although it was sad that it had to happen under such awful circumstances. 

Still, Remus seemed to be excited underneath all his concern, which was what mattered in the end. And, really, he was going to be incredible. The best Defense professor, probably, that Hogwarts would have seen in years. 

That night, they huddled up by the fire and talked about their day. Their feelings, their plans. Life was changing for everyone in the family, and they needed to combat that as best as they could. So Sirius suggested that they all move to Hogsmeade. 

“It would be convenient. And Draco can come and visit whenever there’s a Hogsmeade weekend!” 

Remus nodded. “That sounds great. What do you say, Draco?” he looked down at his son and ruffled his hair affectionately. 

“That sounds amazing!” 

Sirius closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, absorbing the warm feeling of family that surrounded them. Everything was going to be okay. Lucius _would_ be captured and put back in Azkaban where he belonged, even if Sirius had to do it himself. Draco _would_ gain control of his powers, as would Harry, and life would be carefree, even if it would take defeating a homicidal maniac to do it. 

He shared a look with his husband that said everything. They were going to get their family through the darkness, someone was going to turn on a light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why but I'm really proud of the next chapter, I can't wait for you guys to read it!


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is starting for me soon so I'll be posting a lot of chapters later in the day, still going to keep up with it though - I hope!

The Weasleys went on holiday to Egypt because they won the wizard lottery, which was very exciting, but came but just in time for Harry’s birthday party, which was being held at Hogwarts.

It was all very exciting, Harry had never had a big party before, especially not with so many people he could genuinely say that he was close to. Whenever something big happened with the Dursleys he was always put on kitchen duty or told to stay in his room. He had a very distinct memory of being about six or seven, and waking up on his birthday to the sound of music, and getting excited, thinking that his Aunt and Uncle were finally going to celebrate with him, but walking downstairs only to be told that they were testing out music for a party of their own they were having. A party he was most certainly not invited to. 

Today, however, he was in charge of the music. And the cake, and the decorations. He was even asked what he wanted, which was such a strange question to be asked he burst into tears and had to be taken off on a walk by Draco, where he finally recounted some of his stories. 

“They made me sleep in a cupboard. And do their cooking.” was all he had said. 

Draco’s face was livid all the same, and Harry was sure that he would run off and tell his parents, which wasn’t a bad thing. He trusted Remus and Sirius as though they were his flesh and blood, but he wanted to tell them himself, which was what he told Draco, and the boy seemed to listen. 

So, on his birthday, Harry awoke to Remus, Sirius and Draco waking him up by singing ‘Happy Birthday’ at the top of their lungs, as poorly as they could. Sirius even got these magical party poppers that made mini fireworks when activated, most likely from Zonko’s. It was amazing. He had spent his birthday at their house before, but they hadn’t made quite so much of a spectacle. It was almost like he had been initiated into the family. Or maybe it was more guilt that they let him stay in such a horrible place for eleven years and three weeks. 

Draco passed him a long, thin package reverently. 

“Open it, open it!” he squealed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, the way he did when he was really happy. 

Harry tore the paper away and gasped. It was the new Firebolt, the one that Draco had gotten for his birthday a few weeks ago that Harry had been coveting. He couldn’t speak for a full ten seconds, which may have given the wrong message. 

“If you don’t like it we can return it, Harry.” Remus assured him. “You are under no obligation to keep it!” 

Harry shook his head in disbelief and blinked away the tears that had just invaded his eyes. “This is too much, I can’t accept this!” 

Sirius grinned in that mischievous way he often did when he was trying to persuade someone to do something. “Of course you can, Harry. You’re family.” That was enough to make the tears fall in buckets. He accepted the big group hug when it was offered and nuzzled his face into Remus’s jumper, and then Draco’s hair. 

“Thank you.” he choked out in between sobs. That statement didn’t quite cover it. Nothing could ever cover the intense amount of genuine emotion he was feeling. 

He didn’t have long to be sad, though, as a big Quidditch game was going to be happening at Hogwarts in his honor, with the whole Weasley clan, even Bill and Charlie, whom Harry had never met, Hermione, McGonagall, and even Hagrid came down from his hut to join in the festivities, and gave Harry a strange book that tried to bite him. Some safety Aurors too, but the more the merrier. 

Because of both of their Firebolts, Draco and Harry weren’t allowed to be on the same team, people said it was too much of an advantage. The game was intense and exciting. Draco seemed very happy to be utilising his Chaser skills, and Charlie was a very worthy opponent as Seeker. Ron seemed to be decent enough at keeping, and Sirius seemed to be in his element, slamming bludgers back and forth with the Weasley twins, which wasn’t even the aim of the game. Harry had never seen him happier, as though he were twenty years younger. Remus took over commentating duties and Harry was shocked by how hilarious the man was. He almost fell off his broom at one point after a particularly funny comment about McGonagall and Sirius, when they were locked in a high speed chase. He had said something about how tiresome cats and dogs could be, which was only understood by those who knew about Sirius’s animagus form, which made it all the more hilarious. 

After the game, they had a big picnic, with food made by Molly and the House Elves, and a giant cake, with so many candles that Harry managed to blow them all out only after five tries. 

During the feast, Draco and Hagrid seemed to be actually talking civilly. Draco seemed to be getting on with everyone, actually, which was extremely odd. Only a few months ago, nobody in the Weasley clan, or Hagrid, would be seen standing within a five foot radius of the boy, as though he were something explosive, but the whole situation with Lucius seemed to put everything in perspective. They seemed to realise that what he was going through was probably very traumatic, and that he would need friends more than anything. It made Harry unendingly happy that people were finally getting to know Draco, he was truly something special. 

Sirius did glare at Ron’s rat quite a bit, but Harry shrugged that off. 

The Weasleys and Hermione said their goodbyes at about eight, and Hagrid excused himself as he had to go and feed some animal he was currently trying to breed. McGonagall herself stayed for a little longer, but had to get up to the castle for an urgent meeting with Dumbledore about the positioning for the Dementors, something that Harry had learned about from Sirius and Remus, something Harry had learned wasn’t very nice. But the Professor had told them that they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted. 

So they did. 

The giant picnic blanket was still set up, so Harry watched as Draco lowered himself to a horizontal position and followed suit. When he was finally on his back, he looked up to the sky and marvelled at it. You couldn’t see stars like it anywhere else in the country. Harry wondered if Hogwarts had some kind of charm that allowed for greater visibility of the night sky for aesthetic purposes or Astronomy classes. Whatever it was, Harry was stunned. It was like they were surrounded by stars, all glittering like individual diamonds. He drew his attention to the half moon that was hovering above them and immediately turned to Remus, who was lying right next to him, looking at the moon as well. 

“Does it scare you?” Harry asked quietly. 

Remus nodded slightly. “Yes.” The man looked at him directly. “You know today, when you were so happy that we called you family?” 

Harry could sense a question about the Dursleys coming and tensed. “Yeah.” 

“It reminded me of the day Sirius, your father, and... our other friend, found out.” 

“Were they okay about it?” 

Remus smiled fondly. “More than. They were amazing.” 

They both looked up to the sky again, Harry’s mind flashing with the image of his father, comforting his friend. A young Remus and Sirius, holding hands and laughing at some joke one of them told. It made his heart ache just a little, but he welcomed it. He rarely got glimpses of what his father was like, it was nice to know that he was, at the very least, kind. 

“Was my father a good man?” 

There was a moment of heavy breathing before Remus answered. “Yes, very good.” Harry sighed, relieved. “You must understand, Harry, that he was never a bad man. He made a few bad decisions, yes, but I was there when he made them, and didn’t stop him, which doesn’t make me any better. Or Pads, for that matter.” 

“What did he do?” 

“...He had this… stupid vendetta… against Professor Snape. Which was immature, and he stopped eventually, but what he did - what we all did - was mean and vicious.” Remus’s face was drawn and bitter, genuinely guilty, Harry determined. 

“He stopped?” 

“Yes, after your mother told him to, actually.” said Remus. “Snape used very bad words. He called your mother names. At first, James was just having a laugh but I think, after a while, he got protective. I think he was more doing it in the name of Lily’s honor, rather than for fun, or at least that was how he reasoned it. But he did eventually stop, and that is true. He died a good and honest man, and aside from that bullying, he put his friends and family first and that speaks volumes.” 

Harry didn’t quite know what to think. He always thought of Snape as a bit of a bully, really. With his constant picking on Neville, calling Harry a ‘celebrity’, grading Hermione’s potions poorly. His father stopped bullying, but Snape didn’t. 

Still, it wasn’t nice to know that your father was ever anything less than a kind person, but it wasn’t like his father was an ex-Death Eater who escaped from Azkaban. He turned to Draco at this thought, who was entranced in the heavens. 

“That one’s _Draco_.” the boy said, pointing up to the sky. Harry hadn’t seen it before, so followed his hand. There it was, glittering and beautiful, just like the human named after it. Draco moved his hand to point at a different section of the sky. “And that one’s _Lupus_.” 

“It means ‘wolf’.” Remus chimed in. 

“I have it as a tattoo.” said Sirius, from where he was lying on the other side of Draco. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, on my back.” he said, matter-of-factly. “I got it in fifth year because of my insane crush on that big wolf over there.” He pointed to Remus lazily. 

Harry laughed. “That’s so cute, I want a Draco tattoo.” Draco turned bright red and smiled. 

“You know, I have a _Canis Major_ tattoo, which has the _Sirius_ star in it.” Remus murmured, arm now draped across his eyes. 

“Where?” 

“On my ankle.” 

“When did you get it?” 

“Right after our first kiss, didn’t I, Pads?” Remus shouted the last part loud enough for Sirius to hear. 

“That you did. I remember how painful you thought it was.” 

Remus murmured in agreement. 

“So should I get a constellation tattoo? If we’re all getting one?” asked Draco, smiling contentedly. 

“Which one would you get though?” asked Sirius at the same time as Remus said. “You are not getting a tattoo.” 

“Aw, Dad.” Draco whined. 

“At least not yet, you have to wait.” Remus reprimanded. 

“I’ll wait then. Maybe I’ll come up with something.” 

“You could do _Ophiuchus_.” Sirius suggested. 

“I think that’s a bit on the nose, Pads.” replied his husband, drily. Harry made a note to look up that constellation later. Everyone chuckled slightly, even though Harry didn't understand why, and continued to gaze at the diamond encrusted sky. 

Eventually, Sirius sat up and stretched. “Alright kiddos. Let’s get going.” 


	7. Chapter Seven

The Hogsmeade house was bought, moved into, and warded by the time that school started, and Draco was feeling surprisingly light. What had started off looking like an exceedingly bleak year was turning around.

The house itself was lovely, a little thatched cottage just off the main road with a wonderful apple tree in the back garden that Draco was exceedingly fond of. It was just big enough for the bench swing that was attached to one of its branches, the swing that he used whenever he could as a comfortable and quiet reading spot. 

This tree was one of the things he was going to miss when he went back to school, although he was endlessly pleased that his father wasn’t going to be one of them this year. 

Although he’d not had a lesson himself yet, Draco had heard wonderful things about his Moony and was very proud, boasting about it to anyone who would listen. He’d heard Harry call him ‘cute’ but chose to ignore it. In the fleeting moments Draco and Remus actually got to see each other, it was evident that the man enjoyed his job exceedingly, which was something his son was very happy about. 

Something he was not happy about, however, was the useless study of Divination, the study that Harry had so ridiculously chosen to engage in that year. Which was what got him in the current position of being told his fortune by his friend. 

“In the class we did tea, so that’s what you have to do.” Harry said simply, as though it explained everything. 

“I have to do _what_?” Draco replied snarkily. He honestly didn’t see the point of it at all, he much preferred taking Arithmancy with Hermione, that, at least, was useful. 

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, as though he could have explained it any better than he did. “You have to drink the tea, silly.” 

“Alright then, no need to get huffy with me!” he squawked before drinking the tea to its completion and staring down at the dregs. “It looks like mush, what does that mean?” 

Harry too rumpled his brow and peered down at the bottom of the cup, and then consulted his book. “It could be a… oh, Draco, I think you’ve got the Grim too!” he exclaimed, looking closer at his subjects. 

“The _what_?” 

“The Grim! I got it in class, and Trelawny made a big deal out of it, because she said it meant I was going to die, but now you’ve got it too!” Draco couldn’t tell if Harry looked worried, because it would be ridiculous to be worried about a stupid fortune, Tea Leaves shouldn’t control anyone’s lives, much less his, but there did seem to be a certain tension around his jaw that suggested certain stress. 

“Wait, are you worried?” he asked, smiling slightly at the idiocy. 

“Well, yes!” Harry cried, with a look on his face that shouted, aren’t you? 

“Harry, this is the lowest form of magic a person can perform, even a Muggle could tell you that!” 

“But we’re both being hunted by murderers, doesn’t it seem like a bit of a coincidence?” 

Draco stopped and stared at Harry as though he were looking at a different person. “Who told you about that?” 

“About Lucius being a murderer?” The boy shrank back into his seat and looked guilty. 

“Yes.” 

“McGonagall.” 

“Oh.” 

There was a long silence where neither of them knew what to say, until Draco simply started cleaning up and Harry started talking about how hilarious it was to see Crabbe and Goyle make that Hippogriff so angry. Draco tried to laugh along with his friend, but it was difficult. He didn’t like the new feeling of dread that was pooling into his stomach like a sick weight, the fear that Divination may not be so stupid as he’d made it out to be. 

*** 

The whole situation with Crabbe and Goyle was actually quite ridiculous. Draco and Harry had been having Care of Magical Creatures with the Gryffindors when Hagrid had produced an actual Hippogriff from which the students had to study. It was a typically stupid idea from the get go and it wasn’t surprising when it got out of hand. 

It started off on a high though, as Harry was forced to be the first one to approach the creature. Which was, as expected, intimidating, but after getting the green light from it, he felt instantly calmer. A feeling that didn’t last long as Hagrid scooped him up and planted him right on the animal’s back. 

“Huh?” Harry spluttered worriedly. 

“Go on then!” Hagrid roared. He slapped the hippogriff’s behind and it took off, soaring into the air gracefully. 

Harry clung on for dear life but peeked open his eyes slightly to check his surroundings. When he did, he was shocked to find that it wasn’t that scary at all. They were flying over the black lake and Harry could see his reflection in the ripples. It was shocking to see himself so carefree and relaxed. It was as though all the stress from the last few weeks had been banished, being replaced instead by a feeling of freedom unlike any other. He grinned up at the sky and laughed heartily, spreading his arms out in order to feel the full effects of the wind. 

When they finally landed, Harry dismounted and thanked the creature heartily, only now remembering its name to be Buckbeak. 

“Thank you, Buckbeak.” he said. It tilted it’s head in response and Harry returned to the group to find Draco as white a sheet. 

“I-what-you just… huh?” Draco stumbled incredulously. 

“It was amazing.” Harry grinned. “You should ask Hagrid to let you have a go.” 

He didn’t get the chance, though, because Crabbe and Goyle had gotten an idea into their thick heads and were acting on it as they spoke. They were perched on top of a rock, with handfuls of small stones in their hands, chucking them at Buckbeak, alternating between handfuls and individual shots. It was clear they were aiming for the eye. Before anyone could reprimand them, the hippogriff retaliated by rising up on its hind legs and charging at them, paying little heed to the rope around its neck that was being held onto securely by Hagrid. 

Crabbe ended up with a broken ankle and Goyle hit his head against the rock as they were trying to get down and escape. Buckbeak didn’t touch either of them, and yet they were yelling something about crazed animals. It was actually quite funny at the time. They looked like giant babies. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school sucked. please make me feel better 🥺 haha


	8. Chapter Eight

Draco would remember what he saw in the Mirror of Erised until the day he died. It haunted both his dreams and waking thoughts. Sometimes he would look at Harry, or one of his parents and wince, purely because he could so vividly picture what they looked like in the mirror. What he hadn’t expected was that he would see it again so soon.

Excitement was bubbling in the air on Thursday morning and spirits were high. All anybody could talk about was Professor Lupin-Black and his amazing classes, and finally Draco could see his father in action. 

When they got to the classroom, they were told to leave their bags and follow him into the staff room, wands ready. Along the way, Remus had impressed everyone by putting Peeves in his place with a clever spell, and Draco had felt a surge of pride. 

The staffroom itself seemed to have had nothing changed since the last time when he and Harry had infiltrated it, that was until the wardrobe in which they had hidden gave a sudden wobble, as though a creature was hiding in its depths. Surprisingly, Snape was reclined in one of the low armchairs but departed soon after they entered, sniping out a few rude comments about Neville, who Remus ended up choosing to help with the demonstration. 

He explained that the creature rattling the wardrobe was a Boggart, which made Draco feel a little queasy. 

“It’s a shape-shifter,” Hermione had explained “It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most.” 

Draco watched as Harry paled and knitted their hands together in support. His friend gave him a small smile and squeezed. It felt comforting and good. 

Professor Lupin-Black explained the spell to everyone and asked Neville what he found the most scary in the whole world. 

“Professor Snape.” he had said, blushing crimson. Draco felt sorry for him. Out of everything he had faced, his parents being tortured by Draco’s biological aunt and Sirius’s cousin to insanity, Voldemort being in his school twice, his biggest fear in the entire world was a man he had to see every single day of his school life. Remus and Draco shared a look as the rest of the class laughed. Poor Neville. 

The boggart did, as expected, turn into Snape and Neville, being the strong person that he was, transformed his clothes into those of his grandmother’s which, Draco had to admit, was very funny. The whole class laughed at the boggart and it moved on to each student, transforming into their worst fears. 

For Parvati, it was a mummy, for Seamus, a banshee, for Dean, a severed hand. Draco tried to rack his brains for what he could be scared of most - Lucius, he reasoned. Or Voldemort. He didn't have time, however, to think about it, because the boggart had turned its attention to him, and it was worse than he could have imagined. 

At first, all it seemed to be was an image of him, Harry, Sirius and Remus, all older, smiling and laughing good contentedly, exactly as he’d seen in the Mirror all those years ago, but he knew what came next. Dread burning a hole in the pit of his stomach, Draco couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, neither could anyone else it seemed, they all just watched as boggart-Draco’s happy grin morphed into a sickly grimace, and it’s right hand raised slightly. Draco could just see the small flurry of something white that circled the boggart’s hand before it sent shards of a glass-like substance, that looked strangely like ice, into the hearts, eyes, skin of his family. Around boggart-Draco, there now lay three bodies, choking on their own blood, convulsing grossly. This was where Remus stepped in. 

The boggart transformed into a similar image of Sirius, Draco and Harry dead instead and shouted, “Riddikulus.” The bodies were now asleep and had mustaches and monocles drawn on their faces. 

Everyone tried to laugh, but they couldn’t. 

Nobody said anything for what seemed like a really long time, but was probably only a few seconds, before the ball rang and Remus dismissed everyone, including Harry, but keeping Draco behind and taking him to his office, where he fed him chocolate and biscuits until he felt better. Draco didn’t say anything, because there was no need to. There was nothing he could say that would make it any better for him, or make the worrying crease between Remus’s eyebrows smooth out. Whatever the hell that was, it probably wasn’t a fantasy. A fantasy is never that vivid. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is a bit better now, which is good. I think I just needed to get used to being around assholes every day lol.
> 
> Thank you for all your kind comments, though, they meant a lot <3<3


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is really short, sorry. I've just been really behind cuz of school and all that lol 😊

_1975:_  
The Hogs Head was rowdy on a Friday night.

“Alright guys, next one’s on me…” Sirius yelled, balancing their empty bottles precariously in his arms as he made his way to the bar. 

He’d always preferred the Hogs Head to the Three Broomsticks. Something about the personality of it made him feel warm, like he was a part of another imperfectly perfect family. At this rate, he would have more families than most, which was something he graciously welcomed. 

“Four butterbeers, please.” he ordered, flashing a quick smile to the man tending the bar, flirting at anyone and everyone, as he so usually did. 

As the man retrieved the drinks, Sirius noticed a heavily tattooed witch in the corner of the room, hunched over a rather large wizard’s arm. It looked as though she herself was giving him a tattoo. Sirius was suddenly intrigued. He had always wanted a tattoo. Another form of rebellion he could rub in his mother’s face during the brief moments they saw each other, at Kings Cross station or in Diagon, although he didn’t quite know what he would get one of. 

He took the drinks back to the table and slid in next to James. 

“Who dares me to get a tattoo from that witch over there?” he asked the group. He noticed Remus avert his eyes and he thought he may have seen the boy blushing, but it could have been the low lighting. 

“Go for it.” said James. 

Peter continued trying to pop off the cap of his bottle. “What would you get?” he grunted. 

“I don’t know… maybe a dog print, to celebrate our recent accomplishment?” That suggestion raised a series of cheers and clinking of glasses. Truly, becoming animagi was the hardest thing the boys had ever had to do, but it was completely worth it to see the look of pure relief on Remus’s face when they stayed with him after a transformation, or to see him calmer at the prospect of a full moon. It didn’t even make much of a difference that Sirius was in love with him, he probably would have done the same thing even if he wasn’t. 

“Should we all get one?” asked James, but Peter violently shook his head. 

“My mum would kill me.” He trembled. 

Remus smiled and shook his head fondly. Sirius marvelled at the way the other boy managed to make his heart skip with such a small movement. 

“What do you say, Moony? Want to get a tattoo?” he jeered. 

His friend shook his head once more. “When I know what I want to get a tattoo of, then I will get one. Until then, I don’t see any reason to scar my body any more than it already is.” 

“I’ll get one with you, Sirius.” said James. “Maybe I can get a lily or something.” 

Peter giggled and hid his smiling face behind chubby hands. 

“Come on, mate, the only thing creepier than basically stalking a girl and asking her out every day, even though she repeatedly has said no, is to then get a tattoo in her honor.” 

James smirked and gave him a knowing look. “Oh, as if you wouldn’t do the same thing.” 

Sirius was momentarily taken aback by the statement and had to think about it for a few seconds. It took him just about that long to realise that his friend was referring to the crush he had confided in him half a year before over a game of Truth or Dare, with veritaserum stolen from Slughorn’s cupboard, on their curly haired friend. But he wouldn’t be stupid enough to get a tattoo for Moony! He leaned back in his chair with an air of nonchalance and watched his werewolf friend take a deep drink from his butterbeer and lick his lips clean of residue. The dark honey eyes latching onto his own and holding the gaze, daring him to look away. Suddenly, Sirius didn’t see any objections to the obsessive crush tattoo. 

“Alright, James, you get a lily tattoo.” he said, finally breaking the stare. “Come on, I’ll go with you.” 

*** 

“What constellation actually is that, Sirius?” Remus asked on the long walk back to the castle. 

“That, Moony, is something you’ll have to find out on your own.” 

They both looked to the sky. Unbeknownst to Remus, the _Lupus_ constellation shone bright and smiled at the pair it was bringing together. 


	10. Chapter Ten

While for the rest of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade trips were a joy, to Harry, on the anniversary of his parent’s deaths, and to Draco, a boy who was still haunted by the faces of his loved ones killed at his hand, it seemed like it was more of an inconvenience, but it did give them the opportunity to seek comfort in two men who knew what their pain was, and would do everything in their power to make them feel better.

As the rest of the students bickered and laughed good-naturedly, Draco and Harry were solemn and quiet as they trudged down the winding path to Sirius and Remus’s cottage, avoiding the shops altogether. Draco wanted to say something to lift his friend’s spirits, but didn’t feel that anything he said would sound all that jolly. 

Sirius and Remus welcomed them warmly, as they were expected to do, and Remus guided them to the kitchen, where he had made a warm apple pie with ice cream on the side for them to all dig into. This didn’t fail to lift the corners of Harry and Draco’s mouths just a little. 

The family collectively replaced talking with eating and devoured the treat in silence. Nobody knew what to say. There was nothing that any of them could say about James and Lily. Nothing that any of them could say about the boggart. All they could do was just spoon mouthful after mouthful of sticky pastry in their mouths, hoping that once they were finished, they still wouldn’t be expected to speak. 

Everyone helped cleaning the dishes, exchanging very small amounts of speech for designating tasks, until Harry was scrubbing at a plate a little harder than was necessary and Remus engulfed him in a hug, followed by Sirius, followed by Draco, who burrowed under his father’s arms to the centre, where he, too, wrapped his arms around Harry. The best thing about his family, Draco thought, was that they didn’t need to exchange words in order to know that they were there for each other. 

Draco could hear Harry making small sniffling sounds and held him closer. 

“Sirius, Remus…” he called in a tiny voice. 

“Yeah?” responded Remus. 

“Do you know where they’re buried?” 

Sirius pulled back and surveyed Harry with concerned eyes. “Yeah, this graveyard near where they used to live with you.” 

Draco could see that his dads were having one of those silent conversations they had whenever they had something private to discuss. 

“Do you want to go, Harry?” Remus eventually asked, expertly managing to sound soothing even with the intense nature of the question. 

Harry seemed to mull this over before nodding just slightly. 

“Now?” 

He nodded again. 

“Apparate us then, Sirius.” 

And so he did and the group felt that odd sensation of being dragged through a tube before being safely deposited in a quiet, safe looking village. The weather was surprisingly bright and sunny, such a contrast to the general mood of the day, and it made Draco feel just a little better. Sure, he was usually more of a night person, but visibility was preferable at a time like this. 

“Stay close, boys.” Remus warned, wand aloft. “We all know who could be nearby.” 

Sirius guided them to a gated park filled with hundreds of gravestones, and navigated them over to one in particular, that was engraved with the names ‘James and Lily Potter’ and the words “The last enemy that shall be defeated is death.” Despite never knowing Harry’s parents, Draco found himself mourning their deaths all the same. He looked to Harry, usually such a beacon, now dimmed slightly, his face drawn and contemplative, with dried tears leaving faint, salty marks on his cheeks. Draco knew he needed some time alone. 

As did Remus, it seemed, for he ushered the lot of them a few feet away, leaving Harry behind, transfixed on the stone. Draco noticed that Sirius’s usually clear and bright, silvery eyes shone like the moon with unshed tears. He took his hand and squeezed. Sirius looked down at him before engulfing him in a tight hug. 

“Just know that we’ll never leave you, Star.” he whispered into Draco’s hair. “We love you so, so much. Okay?” 

Draco sniffed and wiped his nose with his hand. “Okay.” 

Sirius let go but continued holding his hand. It was so nice. The comforting breeze. All of it. That was until Draco caught a slight glimpse of platinum blonde ducking behind an old cottage. 

“Dad?” he tried to say, but Remus had already seen it and alerted Sirius so. 

“I’ll go after him, take the kids home, Pads.” 

“But Harry isn’t finished!” protested Sirius, gesturing towards the boy, who was now sitting, cross-legged in front of the stone, and seemed to be talking to it. 

Remus glanced at him and looked reluctant. “Fine, give him another minute, but then you really have to go. Send a Patronus to Kingsley.” 

“Will do. Be safe, Moony.” 

“Always.” 

They gave each other a quick peck before Remus departed and Sirius sent his Patronus to Kingsley, informing him of the suspicious behaviour. 

“I’ll go over there, dad.” said Draco quietly. Sirius nodded and stayed in his spot, watching the interaction closely. 

Draco kneeled next to his friend and put his hand on his shoulder. “Harry, I don’t want you to freak out, and I’m sorry we have to cut our visit short, but we think we might have seen Lucius nearby. Moony has gone to check but he reckons we should go home, you can have another minute though, okay?” He took a breath to calm his pounding heart. Honestly, it was all getting a bit much for him. In the previous years, most of the important stuff seemed to be happening to Harry, rather than to him. For some reason, Merlin decided that third year was the time when his murderer ex-Death Eater father should escape from Azkaban and he should be forced to face his worst fear and apparently greatest desire once more. Not only whatever the hell was going on with the method of murder he used in the mirror and boggart. 

“Okay, let's go then.” Harry was on his feet. 

“Don’t you want to say goodbye?” 

His eyes were dark and stormy, terrifying, actually. “I’ve already lost both of my parents, I won’t lose you too. We leave now.” 

Draco was then dragged up and towards Sirius, who then apparated them home. 

*** 

Remus was back thirty seven minutes after the rest of them were. His husband immediately hugged him close before checking that everything was alright. 

“We searched the whole village but didn’t find anyone who looked like him. He doesn’t have a wand but he could have apparated, they don’t have a way to keep tabs on that.” He sighed and tossed his head back like he did when he was frustrated. “I just really want to find him, I want him to be stupid enough to come to Hogwarts or something so we can get him.” he growled. 

“I know, honey. I know.” 

Remus looked towards the two innocent, kind boys sitting together on the sofa in each other’s comforting embrace and sighed. 

“Do you ever wonder, if Peter hadn’t ratted us out, if James and Lily were still here, if they would have been able to handle this situation with their son and our son better than we are?” he asked, turning towards Sirius. 

He shook his head as tears welled up in his icy, silver eyes. “No. But I think that we’d be handling it better with them to support us.” He paused for a moment. “James would've loved it.” he said, chuckling. 

Remus wiped a stray tear from his cheek and laughed too. “You’re right, actually. He’d love that his son had cool fire powers.” 

“And he’d get them matching fire and ice baby grows for when they were little.” 

They shared a grin and continued laughing silently. James and Lily may have been gone from their lives, but the memories would live on. It wasn’t enough, but it would get them through. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may need to start uploading a little less regularly, I don't know, it depends on the next few weeks really. 
> 
> PS what are your guys' Hogwarts Houses, no reason I just want to know honestly. (I'm a Slytherin 😊)


	11. Chapter Eleven

With the solemn occasion of Halloween over and done with, Remus was free to begin extra-curricular defense training with Harry and Draco. They gathered in the classroom on a gloomy Wednesday night and got started.

“Alright, I’m going to begin my teaching you two how to cast a corporeal Patronus.” 

Draco smiled and nudged Harry with excitement, although he just looked a little confused. 

“What’s that?” 

Remus gave him what he hoped was a comforting look. “The Patronus charm is a highly advanced bit of magic. When cast, it creates a bright beam of light that can take the shape of an animal, when at its most powerful. The animal differs from person to person and is said to represent a protector, or sorts. For example, mine is a wolf. I like it because it makes me feel like the wolf is on my side, rather than against me, as I felt it to be for many years. Sirius’s is a dog because it displays loyalty, something that he treasures very greatly. Also, probably because he is really just a big dog at heart.” This earned a light giggle from his pupils before Harry tentatively raised up his hand. 

“You don’t need to raise your hand, Harry, this isn’t like a regular class.” 

He smiled and put it down again. “What were my parent’s Patronuses?” 

“Ah.” said Remus. “Your father’s was a stag, and your mother’s was a doe. I think their Patronuses were connected somehow.” 

Harry’s eyes seemed to shine for a few seconds before he blinked them away. 

“Do you know what Lucius and Narcissa’s Patronuses were?” said Draco. He seemed concerned, somehow, Remus didn’t know exactly why, but could hazard a guess. 

“Lucius was never able to cast a full Patronus. But, Narcissa did. I have heard from the Healers at St. Mungos that she casts it every now and again because it calms her. It is a dove.” Remus occasionally pondered upon Lucius Malfoy’s failure to cast a corporeal Patronus. He got married, he had a son, exactly what he wanted for the family. Surely those memories would be joyus enough to cast one. He had come to the conclusion, eventually, that they just weren’t. Perhaps those memories were tainted, perhaps by Voldemort’s lurking figure. It surely wasn’t the case of lack of magic, for Lucius was known to have had plenty. What an awful life, Remus would think, to never have been happy enough. Happiness, he had always imagined, could not be measured, but perhaps it could. 

He clapped his hands decidedly and smiled as brightly as he could. “Let's get started then, shall we?” 

Harry and Draco both nodded eagerly. 

“Alright, I will not be letting either of you near a dementor for at least a few weeks yet, so we’re going to have to use our imagination. I want to first repeat the incantation: _Expecto Patronum_.” 

“ _Expecto Patronum_.” They chorused. 

“Wonderful. Now, copy the following wand movement.” He demonstrated, they copied. “Amazing!” Remus cleared his throat for dramatic effect. “In order to cast the Patronus charm, the caster will need to think about their happiest memory. It can’t be just any happy memory, mind you, it must be one that fills you with so much joy, it overflows your boundaries and courses into the spell. Do you understand?” 

They nodded and Draco spoke up. “What’s your happy memory, dad?” 

Remus smiled. “I have three. My wedding day, getting you, of course and…” 

“And?” 

“Well, I told Harry about it.” He gestured to Harry. “When Sirius, James and Peter found out about… you know.” He chuckled quietly. 

“Peter?” Harry asked. “Is that the name of the boy from the pictures?” 

Remus hastily dissected the young boy’s expression. He didn’t seem distressed, or hateful of the name. “Yes. Peter Pettigrew.” 

“Why don’t you guys like him?” 

“Well, Harry, he’s dead now, and I like to think it’s more difficult to hate someone if they’re dead. Sirius disagrees. He did something truly awful. Maybe it’s a story for another time.” He shook his head and plastered on his happy face. “This is supposed to be a lovely atmosphere filled with good memories, isn’t it. Here, I'll demonstrate.” 

In his mind’s eye, Remus conjured up the image of Sirius’s silver eyes and warm, pliant lips and cast the spell, producing his kindly wolf protector, who bounded around the room before sitting at Draco’s feet. He giggled and kneeled down to pet it, getting surprised when it faded away. 

“I want one.” he said. 

“Give it a go then.” 

Remus didn’t know what his son was thinking about, but it was clear he was focusing on it very hard, his lips were pursed and eyebrows furrowed. “ _Expecto Patronum_.” he chanted, producing a long stream of surprisingly bright silver light. Remus was astonished, although he shouldn’t have been, his son was destined to be a very powerful wizard. 

“It wasn’t an animal though.” Draco pouted. 

“Casting a corporeal Patronus isn’t an easy thing to do, be patient. That was the most incredible first go.” His son beamed and turned to Harry, who looked very proud. 

“Your turn, Harry.” 

The boy took a deep breath as he came up with his happy memory. When he did, he cast the spell and produced a similarly bright beam. 

“Unbelievable! You two are amazing!” It wasn’t actually that unbelievable, considering the other amazing things that the boys had done, and what their future had in store for them, but Remus thrived off of being supportive. 

“Lets go again!” 

Each boy tried about three more times before complaining of weariness, so Remus let them go. By the end of the class, they had both produced bright enough Patronuses to scare off a dementor or two, and they were only thirteen! He didn’t dare think what they’d be capable of in a few years time. 

*** 

Quidditch tryouts were approaching and Draco seemed to be very excited. As did Harry, who knew how talented Draco was at flying and wanted him to be on the team. So he practised with him whenever they could, which wasn’t often, but he didn’t really need much training. When the actual day came around, it was clear that Draco would be the best Slytherin had to offer. 

It started off with some kids from older years, who were very slow and had messy turns, and a second year, who dropped the ball after five seconds of being in possession of it. When Draco lifted off, Harry could feel his confidence from his place in the stands, and he cheered even louder than Ron and Hermione, who had come to support Draco, seeing as they had all gotten closer over the summer. 

He was amazing. Soaring and swooping around the field as though he owned it, and he scored more goals than Harry had seen the chasers on the team do in a while, and boy did Draco know it. Harry always knew that his best friend had a bit of a dark side, it was the Slytherin in him, and he honestly quite liked it when it came out, it gave him a bit of an edge that tended to make him blush. When he dismounted his broom, Harry could just about make out a smug, crooked grin on the boy’s face as he took directly in his eyes and winked. 

Harry cheered louder. 

Marcus Flint announced the new team members, and Draco was obviously one of them. Harry ran up to him and hugged him tight before catching his lips off guard in a congratulatory kiss that they held for a few seconds before releasing and addressing the other members of their party. 

“Congratulations, Draco.” said Hermione, moving forward to hug him. Ron kept his distance but offered his commendation all the same. 

“You were really good, actually! I saw you fly this summer but I didn’t know you were that good!” he enthused. Draco blushed and linked his hand with Harry’s. 

“We should meet up next Hogsmeade weekend!” he suggested. “We didn’t get to really enjoy it last time.” 

“That sounds lovely! We can get drinks at the Three Broomsticks!” The bushy haired girl began listing all of the things one could possibly do in Hogsmeade and Harry squeezed Draco’s hand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning for the next chapter: I'm not a huge fan of Snape. Neither is Draco lol.


	12. Chapter Twelve

It wasn’t the first full moon that had happened at Hogwarts, but it was the first that fell on an actual weekday, so Professor Lupin-Black’s defense class had a substitute teacher, Professor Snape.

While the entire population of Hogwarts, at least the population that hadn’t been living under a rock, was aware of their Professor’s furry little problem, it didn’t usually cause much trouble. Which was surprising, all things considered. But he had successfully raised a child, so that was something. The only people who had a problem with it were a few pureblood families, but they couldn’t do much except refuse to allow their child to attend the class. So Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Blaise weren’t present for the incident. 

It all started when Snape woke up in the morning and decided that he could stir the cauldron a little and jump ahead on the syllabus to werewolves. Most students could only guess what his intention was: to make them scared enough of Professor Lupin-Black to get him fired so that Snape could fill in. But they weren’t that stupid. To start with, nobody liked Snape, but also, Lupin-Black was the most competent teacher they had ever had for defense, and not even changing into a hideous and potentially dangerous beast once a month would take away from that. Every girl in the school did that, and nobody stayed away from them. 

So everyone was resolutely refusing to speak up about werewolves when they were asked to, because they knew it would only give Snape ammunition. 

“Nobody? Noone knows the difference between a werewolf and an animagus?” he sneered, watching them all with glinting eyes. “Not even you, Draco? I would have thought out of all people, you would know.” 

Draco seemed to grit his teeth. “An animagus can transform on command. A werewolf cannot.” It was the most succinct answer he could give. The class held their breath as they wondered how their teacher would twist his words. 

But he didn’t. “Very good.” muttered Snape, under his breath. “Now, tell me, Mr Malfoy. What happens to a werewolf during their transformation?” 

The boy clenched his fists and took a deep breath. “They transform into a wolf.” 

“A dangerous wolf, yes?” 

“Yes. A dangerous wolf.” Draco raised his eyes to meet his teacher’s defiantly. There was some kind of stand-off happening that none of the classmates could decipher, but were enjoying immensely. 

“Mr Malfoy, what is the danger level for a werewolf in your textbook?” 

The blond grimaced and looked down to see ‘XXX’ in bold letters next to the words ‘Highly Dangerous - Avoid at all costs’. He didn’t say anything. 

“What does it say?” 

He still wouldn’t give Snape the satisfaction. 

“I know you can read, Mr Malfoy, what. Does. It. Say?” 

“Don’t you have something else in your life that brings you joy? Other than tormenting children I mean.” Draco snapped, face set and stormy. 

Snape was taken aback for a moment before scowling. “Ten points from Slytherin.” he said. “For impertinence.” 

He bit his lip and sat back in his chair, face flushed with irritation. His bespectacled friend nudged his shoulder and quietly asked if he was okay. He nodded. 

The professor straightened up and moved to the front of the class, where he inspected his book for a few seconds before slamming it shut suddenly and peering at his class. 

“A werewolf is a highly dangerous creature. Upon contact with one you should take great caution. I will not be teaching you how to defend yourselves against one, that would only encourage you. But I will be teaching you about them.” he said. “Turn to page 394.” 

The class did as he told, none of them daring to utter a syllable. 

“Two rolls of parchment by Monday morning on werewolves with particular emphasis on recognising it.” The class groaned. 

Draco rose in his seat. “My dad will be back by then, are you really going to make him read forty essays on how dangerous of a creature he is? Are you really that cruel?” 

“Your father already knows.” 

“My _father_ is the kindest man anyone will ever meet, he has never done anything to you.” 

“Twenty points from Slytherin.” 

“How dare you come in, when he is physically incapable of teaching, because of an illness inflicted on him when he was a child, and teach his students that he is a predator. He’s the best teacher we’ve ever had, and other years all feel the same.” Draco was being ruled by his adrenaline. Somewhere in him, an anger was awakening, one that he hadn’t felt since the dream all those months ago, and it was ringing in his ears. He probably couldn’t have stopped even if he wanted to. 

“Another twenty.” 

The entire class was transfixed on the struggle at play. Some didn’t even know what side they were on, but were enjoying it immensely. Aside from maybe the Slytherins, who would probably have preferred it if their classmate stopped getting points taken from them. 

“I get it, you’re angry because my dad used to be kind of a prick, but he’s grown out of that. You are still the same stuck-up, slimy, evil little bully that you used to be, and that is never going to change.” 

“FIFTY POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN NOW ARE YOU QUITE FINISHED, MR MALFOY?” Snape roared. Draco snapped his mouth shut and glared at him. 

“I am finished.” he whispered. 

“Detention after school. Tonight. Eight o’clock, don’t be late. You’re lucky I don’t give you more.” Everyone in the room was vaguely aware that Draco had gotten off easy because the Slytherin team needed a decent Chaser, and didn’t bother saying it. It was sad that Draco didn’t seem to have a parental figure nobody had anything to say about. 

*** 

Draco hadn’t seen the dementors. Nobody had. Although his focus was almost exclusively on the Quaffle, so he probably wouldn’t have noticed them anyway, but he was always fine-tuned to the wellbeing of Harry Potter, and seeing him fall from the sky like he was falling from heaven itself, did definitely turn his head. 

Thankfully, Dumbledore saved him, and sent the dementors running straight after, but it was a miracle that Harry was okay, that his broom was the only thing that had broken. 

Another thing they had to be thankful for was insurance, something that Remus had cleverly remembered before they purchased the broom, so it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway. The real point was more that the dementors were oddly attracted to Harry. They had some strange pull to him. From what Draco could tell, his parents had their suspicions, but he wasn’t privy to those discussions. 

He sat silently beside his friend’s hospital bed, with Hermione, Ron, and the entire Slytherin team. It was quite unifying, actually, and not even that awkward. Sure, they had lost the match to Ravenclaw, but Draco had gotten enough points through scoring that it wasn’t that big of a loss. They would pull through. And there was talk of a rematch because of the clear foul the dementors had played. 

Harry woke up and they talked until Draco was forcibly removed by his dads, who needed time to talk to him about the new safety measures they were working on, so that he wouldn’t have to come into contact with any more dementors, and so that he could get some sleep. But how could he sleep without Harry in the bed next to him? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Harry was a Horcrux, and basilisk venom kills horcruxes, why didn't the Horcrux part of him die when he was bitten? Did Fawkes cure the Horcrux as well as him? I know everyone talks about this but it genuinely confuses me. 
> 
> In other news, I just danced around my room to Madonna's 'Into the Groove' so I think it's safe to say I'm in a pretty good mood. 
> 
> Sorry, I sometimes feel like I want to keep you updated on my strange thought process lol.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Harry didn’t fear Voldemort so much as he feared dementors. Although the memory itself was fuzzy, it had a certain aura to it that made his stomach feel like lead, he didn’t feel that way when he remembered the battle in the Chamber, or the fight with Quirrel. This one felt darker, more sinister somehow. Somewhere, he remembered hearing a woman’s scream, and a familiar voice whispering a dreaded incantation. Visually, there was nothing but black, though. Black rot and decay. It felt empty and hollow and like the light of Draco’s eyes would never shine bright again, or the pleasant feeling of laughter whenever Padfoot jumped into him would never be felt once more.

He needed someone to talk to, but Draco wasn’t exactly qualified. So he talked to Remus. Right after they gave him the rundown on everything that was happening with the dementors, Harry asked for the man to sit down. 

“I want to try banishing the boggart.” he started bluntly. 

Remus lifted his brows in light surprise. “Right, yes, you never got a go, did you? Do you think it might be… Voldemort?” 

Harry shook his head. “I think it’ll be a dementor.” 

“Ah. Well, if it was, that may help you to produce a Patronus.” 

“Would it?” 

“Yes, probably. Uhh, I’m sure Sirius will have a boggart or two at Grimmauld he can bring over here. I’ll ask him.” 

Sirius did actually find a boggart in one of the upstairs cabinets and brought it to Hogwarts, following Remus’s instruction and putting it in one of the unused classrooms, so that Harry and Remus could practice. Draco refused to attend on the principle that the vision would be too much for him if he had to suffer it again, but that was okay. Harry felt sure that his friend would produce a Patronus in no time. 

Remus released the boggart after rehashing the spell and it was, as suspected, a dementor. At first, he just used the ‘Riddikulus’ spell, just to know how to do it, but they moved onto the Patronus charm directly afterwards. 

It took a few tries, but Harry could definitely see something define forming. 

“Do you mind telling me what you’re thinking about?” Remus had asked during one of their chocolate breaks. 

“I’ve been thinking about the first time I got on a broom.” 

The Professor nodded sagely. “Good. But, I hope you don’t mind me saying, Harry, maybe you should try a memory with more emotional value? We want to try everything.” 

Harry pondered this for a moment, but it didn’t take long for him to realise where he was going wrong. In seconds, he was on his feet again and Remus was standing guard at the door of the cabinet. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

“Ready.” 

In his mind’s eye, Harry could see Draco’s glowing face as he unwrapped the first present in the stocking, and Remus and Sirius’ grins as he giggled at the silly toy. It was the first Christmas he remembered as feeling a part of a family. 

“ _Expecto Patronum_.” Out of his wand erupted a lithe, prancing figure. A reindeer, was it? Harry didn’t have a chance to tell because it was gone in a flash, but that didn’t make it any less real. Remus’s eyes were shiny and his smile was watery. 

“Well done.” he choked out. 

“What was it?” 

“It was a stag, I think.” 

Harry was breathless with joy. His Patronus was a stag, just like his dad’s. 

“Thank you, Remus.” 

*** 

Draco wasn’t struggling with his Patronus, at all. He never struggled with anything. That was the beauty of being good at everything you attempted. So he would never admit that he was envious of Harry for casting a corporeal one before him, because he wasn’t. Envy was a childish emotion. As was frustration, which was why he was most definitely not feeling it as he was trying to cast the spell. 

“Stupid thing.” he grunted as he hit his wand repeatedly against the palm of his hand. 

“Stop getting angry, you need to be calm for the spell to work.” Remus soothed. 

“I just don’t understand, how come Harry has such a good boggart? All I’m stuck with is something that has scarred me for life!” 

His dad chuckled and looked at him with fond exasperation. “What are you thinking about?” 

Draco breathed. “The moment I realised that Harry wasn’t dying and that we could actually win against Voldemort.” he confided. 

“Very good. Emotional significance, genuine emotion…” He carried on his head bobbing as his eyebrows furrowed. “I wonder why it isn’t working, have you tried other memories?” 

“Yeah. Christmas, Quidditch, my seventh birthday…” he didn’t mention that he had also tried thinking about what he saw in the Mirror of Erised, despite it’s fucked up origins. It was awful, and he wouldn’t repeat it, but he also wouldn’t deny that it was worth the try. 

At that moment, there came a knock on the door and Harry tentatively stepped in. 

“Sorry, have you done it yet?” he asked. 

Draco groaned playfully. “No, not yet. Not all of us can be as talented as you, Mr Potter.” he grinned. 

Harry giggled and came fully into the room to sit next to Remus. “Good, I want to watch.” 

His eyes were filled with too much admiration to say no. “Okay.” He focused his attention on the specific memory of the light in Harry’s eyes when he realised that he didn’t have to accept death so soon, mainly on the colour. The bright, emerald green that Draco now realised he probably wouldn’t be able to live without. Feeling suddenly light and powerful, he cast the spell, and from his wand emerged a silver creature, with elegant limbs and a graceful canter, that danced around him before swiftly leaving. 

“A doe…” Remus whispered. 

Draco was stunned. He locked eyes with Harry, who looked like the culmination of all of his hopes and dreams had manifested in a moment, and smiled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's your Patronus? I've taken the quiz at least five times and got a different answer every time, but I reckon it's a bee, I just get a vibe. 🐝


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Draco liked the middle of the night. He didn’t when he was younger. The constant fear of being left alone in the darkness was quite prevalent in his life at such a juvenile age. But time and experience had taught him that it wasn’t the dark you should be afraid of, it was the light. That seeing horror could be even worse than not.

So, upon finding himself unable to sleep for the hundredth time in a row, Draco welcomed it, and began his silky tresses of the air, manipulating it into a cold breeze, and a light sprinkling of snow. 

Draco first realised that there was something special about him and his situation when he was eleven, and a cold breeze had consumed him just as he was about to leave his love to risk his life, or when he watched an older version of himself using only his hands to strike ice into the hearts of his family. 

But it all came to a head on the night of his nightmare, the one about his father. It was too intense not to be real, _that_ he was sure of, but he wasn’t going to ask Remus and Sirius. They had avoided the question the last time he had tried, and he honestly didn’t care about the facts. He could deal with it on his own. So he did. 

Night after night, Draco honed his craft. He couldn’t do much, but he supposed that would come with time. At first, all he noticed was a slight chill in the air if he wished there to be so, but a slight chill turned into a bitter cold, which morphed into a mini snow storm, which was as far as he had gotten. He would always build up to it, sometimes he wouldn’t even get to the intense stuff, he would just wave his hand back and forth lazily, leaving in it’s trail a light layer of frost on his sheets which would melt by morning. 

He didn’t tell Harry. He didn’t tell anyone. It was his thing. His time to just be. Alone. With this small voice in the back of his head telling him that the cold was a comfort, not an enemy. That if all else failed, it would always be there. And Draco wouldn’t let that be tainted by Remus and Sirius lecturing him about being safe, or Harry suggesting that they do some kind of research on it. He didn’t want to do research. He didn’t care. 

It was like art. To him, art had always been beyond research or analytics, which, as someone who would spend most of his time in the library, was a big thing to say. Art was never meant to be ripped apart, or graded on, or analysed. It was meant to be enjoyed as a simple constant. In life, he was happy to content himself with being in the dark about some things. Perhaps one day it would be revealed that he was some child of a stupid prophecy, or a reincarnation of an ancient spirit, but he didn’t care. 

Life didn’t need to explain this to him. He was happy in the unknown. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was really short, I'm sorry, but I felt like it deserved its own section... :)
> 
> I may have to take a little while off because I have mocks next week but I'll be back... oh boy will I be back. I have big plans for this thing. 
> 
> Thank you for all of your comments <3


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Harry didn’t expect any thanks for saving Ginny’s life, truly, it wasn’t something he had done to win back the good graces of the Weasley family. He did it merely out of his own stubborn hero complex.

So he was more than a little surprised to be cornered by the twins on his way out of Divination. 

“Hello, Harry.” greeted Fred. Harry spun round, pulling his leather satchel tighter over his shoulder and raising his eyebrows quizzically. 

“Hey guys,” Harry looked from twin to twin, who were each grinning mischievously at him. “Can I help you?” 

“I think the better question is, can we help you?” George said mysteriously, sharing a look with Fred and smirking. Harry furrowed his brow, and was about to ask what they were on about, when George grabbed his right arm while Fred grabbed the left, and he was being dragged down the stairs roughly. 

“What are you doing? Get - off - me!” Harry struggled out between breaths, kicking his legs frantically and trying to pull himself from the twins grip. They didn’t reply, and before Harry knew it, the solid oak door to a broom cupboard was flung open, and he was being tossed inside. He put his hands out to stop his fall, and scrambled to his feet frantically, looking at the twins with a mix of anger and curiosity. Fred pulled the door shut, and turned to Harry, beaming. 

“We have an early Christmas present for you, Harry.” He said. 

Fred pulled something from the inside of his cloak with a flourish and held it out for Harry to take. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George’s practical jokes, did not take it. 

“What’s that supposed to be?” 

“This, Harry, is the secret to our success.” Said Fred, stroking the parchment fondly. 

“It’s a wrench, giving it to you,” said George. “But we wanted to properly thank you for saving Ginny last year.” Harry went to interject, to tell them about how he didn’t need to be thanked for anything, when Fred cut in. 

“Seriously, Harry. Ginny’s our sister, you saved her life.” There was silence for a moment, Harry took the opportunity to nod at the acknowledgement. “Anyway, we know it off by heart.” Fred continued, shaking off the solemn air.. “We bequeath it to you. We don’t really need it anymore.” 

“And, not to be rude or anything, but why are you thanking me with a bit of old parchment?” 

“A bit of old parchment!” Said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him. “Explain, George.” 

“Well… when we were in our first year, Harry - young carefree and innocent-” Harry snorted. He doubted Fred and George had ever been innocent. “-Well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch…” 

“... We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason-” Fred interrupted. 

“So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual-” 

“-detention-” 

“-disembowelment-” 

“-and we couldn’t help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked ‘Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.’ 

“Don’t tell me-” said Harry, starting to grin. 

“Well, what would you’ve done?” Said Fred. “George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open and grabbed - this.” He gestured to the parchment in his hand. 

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, you know.” George reasoned. “We don’t reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn’t have confiscated it.” 

“And you know how to work it?” Harry raised his eyebrows incredulously. 

“Oh yes.” Said Fred, with a smirk. “This little beauty’s taught us more than all the teachers in this school.” 

“You’re winding me up.” said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment. 

“Oh, are we?” Said George. He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly and said, ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.’ And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider’s web from the point that George’s wand had touched. They joined each other, they criss-crossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment, then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed: 

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present The Marauders Map_

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was the tiny ink dots moving around it, echo labelled with a name in miniscule writing. Astounded, Harry took the parchment from Fred and studied it closer. A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study, and another dot showed Draco leaving his Ancient Runes class. Harry smiled and leaned in to watch the footsteps closer. As he did so, he noticed the caretaker’s cat, Mrs Norris, prowling the second floor, and Peeves the poltergeist bouncing around the trophy room. 

“This is amazing.” Harry breathed, tracing the familiar corridors with his eyes. 

“Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,” sighed George longingly. “We owe them so much.” Harry decided not to mention that he knew the exact identities of two of the creators, and had a strong idea about the others. 

“Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of law-breakers.” Said Fred solemnly. 

“Right,” Said George briskly. “Don’t forget to wipe it after you’ve used it-” 

“Or else anyone can read it.” Fred said warningly. 

“Just tap it again and say, ‘ _Mischief Managed_ ’. And it’ll go blank.” Harry nodded, thanking the boy’s genuinely and shaking their hands. He dismissed the ‘thank yous’ the twins made again for what he did for Ginny, and he told them what he told everyone. That he would’ve done it for anyone. 

Once they had allowed him to sidestep his way from the closet, Harry immediately ran through the castle in search of Draco, and was about halfway to the Great Hall, when he remembered how much easier this job would be now. Harry ducked into an empty classroom and muttered under his breath, “ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,_ ” Ink began to fan out across the page, and Harry basked in the new power he felt and scanned the page for Draco’s dot, finding him sitting in the Slytherin common room. Harry guessed that he was reading. 

Wiping and pocketing the map, Harry stuffed it into his bag, and hurried up a large flight of stairs, speaking the password briskly when he was outside the common room, and hurrying in. He scanned the crowd, and sure enough, found the blonde haired boy sat on one of the large leather couches with a book clutched in his hand. 

“Draco!” Harry half whispered, taking a seat next to his friend, who looked up from his book and smiled brightly. 

“Hey, Harry!” 

They spent the night pouring over the map. Draco was fascinated by it, especially because his fathers had had a hand in creating it. 

“I’m assuming Prongs is my dad.” confided Harry, later that evening. 

“He must be.” Draco agreed. “And Wormtail must be the man who betrayed them.” 

They exchanged theories until their eyelids drooped with exhaustion. They would probably end up spending the night in the same bed, as they very frequently did, but Harry didn’t mind in the slightest. He always slept better next to Draco. 

“We could use this map to look for Lucius.” was Harry’s final thought, just before sleep consumed him. 

He didn’t notice how the mention of that name made Draco tense up. He didn’t end up sleeping all that much. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaack (at least for now)
> 
> The mocks went okay, I'm feeling really confident about the imaginative writing one, but the others made me feel like my brain had been put through a blender lol
> 
> Big thanks to my sister, we sort of did a chapter swap today. I wrote her Klaine chapter for the thing that she's writing and she wrote this one (most of it, anyway)
> 
> How are you guys doing? Doing good?


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Draco and Harry were considerably more excited when the next Hogsmeade trip rolled around, even more so when they knew they were going to be joined by Ron and Hermione.

They walked first to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where Hermione and Draco shared their mutual enthusiasm for different kinds of quill, and gushed over varying thicknesses of parchment. They then went to Dervish and Banges, where the pair weighed the advantages and disadvantages of copper over brass, in regards to the making of cauldrons. And finally, to Honeydukes, where they exited over the new flavour of sugar quill, and shared their similar fondness for them. 

“But you like Chocolate Frogs better, don’t you, Draco?” Harry butted in after a small flare of jealousy growled like a beast in his stomach. 

Draco lightly surveyed him as though he had grown a second head before laughing awkwardly and trying to shake the moment off. 

“Yes, you’re right, Harry. I do like Chocolate Frogs better.” He and Hermione shared a small inside laugh before venturing off to the peppermint toads. It made Harry vaguely frustrated to know that Draco had ‘inside laughs’ with anyone but him. 

Distantly, he could feel Ron patting him on the shoulder. 

“You alright, mate?” The redhead asked. “You seem kind of angry.” 

“I’m fine.” Harry gritted out. 

Ron followed Harry’s line of vision and a realisation seemed to dawn on him before he scoffed incedulously. “They’re just friends, Harry.” 

Harry shrugged his shoulders and led Ron to the Chocolate Frogs display, where he bought a box full, as an early Christmas present for his best friend. 

Harry and Draco were obliged to leave early, however, as they had lunch plans with Sirius and Remus, so they bid Ron and Hermione their farewells and set off. 

“Did you have fun with _Hermione_?” asked Harry, snidely. 

Draco gave him a suspicious side eye. “Yes. I had fun with all of you.” 

“As if you even paid attention to me and Ron.” he sneered. 

“Okay,” Draco sighed, crossing his arms. “What’s got you in such a huff?” 

Harry exhaled heavily. “I’m fine.” They walked in silence for the rest of the way, as Draco knew better than to push, until Harry gestured to a shiny, red door. “We’re here.” 

Draco scampered up to it and slammed on the knocker. Within seconds, the welcoming faces of his dad’s were smiling down at them, welcoming the pair in. 

The conversation throughout the meal was jovial and bright, a nice contrast to the melancholy of the last Hogsmeade weekend, but Harry and Draco had a question they needed to ask which was sure to bring the mood down. 

It was Draco who said something first. “Dad?” he said, turning his head to Sirius. 

The man perked his head up and grinned childishly. “Yes, Star.” 

“Who’s Wormtail?” 

Sirius grimaced. “How do you guys know about him?” Draco and Harry both opened up their mouths to give an excuse but Sirius held up his hand to pause them. “D’you know what? I don’t want to know.” 

Moony arrived back in the dining room from the kitchen, where he was retrieving his special supply of after-dinner chocolates. 

“What’re we talking about?” he asked, glancing around. 

“The boys want to know about Wormtail.” 

Remus groaned slightly and sat down, spreading the chocolate out on the table for everyone to enjoy. Draco immediately snatched up a large chunk. 

“Well, I suppose that’s only fair.” he leaned back in his chair with his classic ‘I’m about to tell a story’ sigh. “You guys remember how Pads spent four years in Azkaban, don’t you?” The boys nodded, looking quickly to Sirius, sympathetically. “Well, he was in Azkaban because Wormtail or, rather, Peter Pettigrew, framed him for his murder, and the murder of twelve muggles.” Harry and Draco gasped, but Remus ploughed on. “Peter Pettigrew is dead, as far as we know, although Sirius seems to think otherwise-” 

“Dirty rat.” Sirius spat. Remus held up a calming hand. 

“What we do know, however, after Dumbledore cast _Priori Incantatem_ on SIrius’s wand, that he did not cast the spell… I am ashamed to say that, even as his husband, I had my doubts on the subject.” 

Sirius visibly deflated at the memory. Harry’s heart went out to him - he couldn’t imagine the kind of pain he went through. 

“I’m just glad that ol’ Dumby got me out.” said Sirius with a weak attempt at a smile. “I managed to keep my sanity in that hellhole because I knew I was innocent, but I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted.” 

Draco held his hand and squeezed it, earning a grateful, sad smile. 

“But, I don’t understand, how did you two even get to that stage?” Harry asked. 

Remus and Sirius shared a look. “Do you want to tell him, Pads?” 

Sirius nodded and turned to Harry. “When we thought that your parents were in danger, the Order decided to enlist a ‘Secret Keeper’, who would know where you three were staying. It was going to be me, but, without telling anyone I… passed the job on to Pete.” He wiped his face with his free hand in a massaging movement, as if he had some kind of headache. “I thought I was being smart, I didn’t even tell my bloody _husband_ , I thought we could trust Peter... “ He trailed off for a moment before returning with renewed vigour. “When we found out about James and Lily, we rushed straight to Godric’s Hollow and… I was so angry, I didn’t even listen to Rem when he told me to stop, I just apparated to Peter and… I reckon I would’ve killed him. But I heard Moony in my head, and I thought about you, Harry, and I just couldn’t leave you two like that, so I stopped but… Pete didn’t.” 

A mutual shudder ran through the room like an icy blade. Draco laced his fingers through Harry’s under the table. 

_Peter Pettigrew_. He was the reason Harry grew up without his parents. His focus had been on Lucius for Draco’s sake these past few months but, he wanted to see Peter Pettigrew, that hateful man, dead more than he wanted to see the sunrise tomorrow. 

The only sound breaking through the thick silence was the occasional snap of Draco biting into his chocolate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been so inconsistent with my uploads recently, school had been kicking my butt, but I wanna get back on that grind. I have some really cute ideas for the Christmas chapter so I will keep powering through.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I kind of like writing jealous and angry Harry, lowkey kinda hot tho lol
> 
> Next on my list of random questions to ask you because reading your responses is fun...
> 
> Are you guys dressing up for Halloween? What are you doing? 
> 
> I am planning on having a Winona Ryder movie marathon with some seasonal baking treats. <3
> 
> PS. If you see any spelling or punctuation errors, I will not be offended if you tell me, I wrote this when I was really tired and just wanted to get the chapter up haha


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Christmas fell upon the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade area like a thick blanket, coating every surface, touching every corner, and dusting each branch and twig.

As per his regular tradition, Draco woke up his dads by leaping on their bed and screaming in their ears before scampering off with Harry to retrieve the stockings. They sat around the fireplace, which was burning hot on the embers all day long, and danced to Muggle Christmas songs that Harry introduced them to, and that Sirius was deeply enjoying. 

One too many glasses of Remus’s eggnog led to the man screaming the lyrics to ‘Feed the World’ by the end of the day. Sirius ended up dragging his husband into singing an improvised version of ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ while Draco and Harry cheered and whooped from the side. 

Sirius and Draco went for a midday walk before all the singing shenanigans began through Hogsmeade town and then venturing into the outskirts of the forest. 

“How’re you doing, star?” Pads asked. “I feel like we haven’t gotten a chance to talk alone much, what with Christmas and everything.” 

Draco smiled and straightened his hat. “I’m doing good, dad. I’m tired, but good.” 

“How are you and Harry?” he said with a sly look. 

The blond smirked back. “Why would you ask that?” 

“No reason.” There was a small pause as Draco waited for his father to inevitably blurt out what he was really thinking. Eventually, Sirius caved. “I want to check you’re okay.” Draco groaned. “I know he’s James’s son, but it is my duty as a father to make sure he is treating you kindly.” 

“Dad, it’s fine.” He was blushing profusely underneath his scarf. 

“Look, I understand ‘young love’ and everything, you know me and Moony started when we were in school. I just don’t want you to get your heart broken.” 

Draco bit his lip and looked at his father sceptically. “I’m thirteen, dad. I care about Harry deeply, because he is my best friend, but I’m still a child. I don’t know what I want, and I don’t know what I’m going to want in the future. Neither does Harry. I don’t think I’d be offended if it turned out that our relationship in the romantic sense isn’t made to last.” 

Sirius sighed and tilted his back to look at the trees. Draco copied his action. “I just want you to protect your heart.” 

“Trust me, dad. I already do.” Draco was always quite reserved with his emotions. They could often be so strong that they practically toppled him over. He would also be lying if he said that he wasn’t almost toppled over by them when he first met Harry. He could remember it as if it were only yesterday. The piercing, emerald eyes, scruffy hair. It wasn’t even the scar Draco had noticed first. The scar didn’t matter to him. All he cared for was his shy smile and slightly pink cheeks. Draco knew then that Harry Potter would be the death of him, and he had spent every day since then doing his best to ensure that wouldn’t happen. But, sure enough, the untidy eleven year old Draco had met on the platform that day all those years ago had snaked into his heart and built a home there. 

What Draco would never admit to anyone was that he knew exactly what he wanted from his life. It was Harry. 

*** 

As per the other tradition Draco had for the holiday season, he and Harry spent the final moments of the evening in their room, exchanging presents. 

They had both gotten each other books. 

For Harry, Draco, with help from Remus, had charmed a Muggle book of constellations so that the dots glowed and twinkled like real stars 

Harry’s face was lit up beautifully by the spell when he opened the book with awe and reverence. 

“Woah.” he murmured softly as he traced his hand over the glowing dots, blocking their light momentarily and revealing it again by removing his fingers. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” 

Draco, from Harry, had received a Muggle book too, uncharmed though, this time. It was a story book, evidently. Much like his book of wizard fairy tales, but these were written by- 

“The Brothers Grimm.” he read. The book itself was exquisitely bound. It was dark blue leather with small, gold embellishments here and there. Vines with thorns on them, a spindle, an apple. It was truly magnificent. On the inside were dozens of stories. 

“It’s just the selected tales, not all of them.” Harry clarified, sounding sheepish. 

“What are the stories about?” 

“Umm… princesses, dragons, knights.” He bit his lip. “I know you like to read so I thought you might want to try some Muggle Literature. I’ve never actually read any of them but everyone in the Muggle world knows the big stories.” 

Draco sifted through the pages before turning to the first story. “Rumplestiltskin.” he started, smiling. 

“What, are you gonna read to me?” Harry joked, eyes glittering. 

“Why not?” Draco lifted up his arm and Harry cuddled in. “Once upon a time there was a miller: he was poor, but he had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened one day…” 

As the words Draco spoke manipulating the air around him in soft, lilting tones, Harry allowed the story to encompass his thoughts and take him on a journey. 

When the blonde finished reading, he placed a bookmark between the pages with care and tucked it into his bedside drawer. Then, he cuddled down under the sheets, tugging Harry close and kissing his forehead. 

“I love it.” he whispered. “Thank you.” 

Harry drifted calmly to sleep, with Draco’s warm breath on his nose and upper lip, and felt truly content. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up? Hey, how are ya? I've been good. It's Saturday, which is amazing, and I intend to bake some kind of sweet treat. Maybe something with Peanut Butter... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. 
> 
> PS. I would greatly recommend that you read the Brothers Grimm fairytales for fun, Draco will be reading them and making pretentious references to them a bit from now on, he's dramatic like that. Like me, really. (You can get them for free on Wattpad.) They can get a little dark though, so be warned. Draco will probably remark on that later. I reckon Muggle literature should be his new obsession.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

The only notable things to really happen in the weeks following Christmas were the extra defensive classes Harry and Draco were taking with Remus and the unfortunate death of Ron’s rat, which Ron himself blamed solely on Hermione and her ugly cat.

Not that Draco found it ugly, Harry noted. 

No. Draco thought the thing was adorable and fluffy. It was ridiculous. It looked like it had taken a wrong turn and walked into a wall, not ‘adorable and fluffy’ at all. 

“Ron’s just being dramatic.” Draco said to Harry after finding out about the incident. “He never really liked Scabbers anyway, and I reckon it’s a good thing anyway. Pads said we should be wary of it, for all we know it’s a mass murderer animagus hiding under the disguise of a family rat.” He said this with a wry smile. “At least it’s dead now. We don’t have to hear from it again.” 

However, that night on the Marauders Map, Harry noticed something strange. He was only doing his nightly sweep of the castle for the name ‘Lucius Malfoy’ when another appeared right under his nose. ‘Peter Pettigrew’. 

Draco was lightly snoozing next to him so Harry shook him awake. 

“What?” he groaned. 

“Look!” Harry whisper-shouted. “It’s Peter Pettigrew!” 

Draco allowed his eyes to adjust before squinting at the tiny letters. “Huh.” he murmured. “That’s weird. Do you think the map’s made a mistake?” 

“No way.” 

“Peter Pettigrew is dead, Harry.” Draco chided. 

“But your dad-” 

“ _My dad_ was in Azkaban for four years. I love him, but forgive me for doubting his coherency on the subject. Nobody could withstand a blast that big.” 

Harry rubbed his eyes and fixed them on the tiny footprints of the man presumed dead. “How do you explain it then?” 

“Moony and Pads were teenagers when they made this. I don’t think it was beyond them to make a mistake.” 

“What about my dad?” Harry whispered, so quietly it could barely be heard by himself. 

Draco’s shoulders fell. “Your dad was a great wizard, just like you. But even he may have made a mistake here. And don’t forget that Peter Pettigrew helped them make it, maybe he did something to it. Either way, I very much doubt that he is here. Why would he be?” 

*** 

But Harry didn’t give up. Far from that, actually. There was something in him, deep down in his core, his father’s voice, he told himself, that said that the map was always right. So he donned the cloak and ventured into the halls long past Draco fell asleep one night, all the while consulting the map, which showed Peter Pettigrew in one of the halls on the fifth floor. 

When he reached it, he could barely catch enough light to see the map in front of his eyes, so he tentatively cast a _Lumos_ , which awoke the paintings. 

“Turn that bloody thing off, will you?” an old, painted warthog growled. 

“Sorry.” Harry dimmed the light just a little before turning his attention to the ominous, inky footsteps of Peter Pettigrew that scampered around him, or so said the Marauders Map. 

_So he is in rat form_ , Harry thought to himself, directing the beam of light at the ground to find the scampering rodent at his feet. 

“Aha!” Harry exclaimed, bending down to scoop it up, but the thing ran away and out of his sight, and before he could chase after it, a menacing hand clasped itself around his shoulder. The cloak had fallen off. 

“Mr Potter.” a voice from behind him sneered. 

Harry quickly sealed the map with a few whispered words and turned to face Snape. “Professor.” he greeted. 

The greaseball plucked the map from Harry’s stunned hands and examined it with suspicion. “May I ask why you are wandering the halls at night? When you are supposed to be in bed?” 

Harry stammered. “I… I just thought… I thought I heard something, Professor.” 

Snape smirked. “Likely story.” His attention turned back to the map and, in his distraction, Harry quickly ducked down to get the cloak and shove it hastily in his pocket - Snape apparently hadn’t seen it. 

“So, what is this? Why are you carrying around some old parchment?” The Professor asked. 

“Nothing. It’s just some old parchment.” Harry lied. 

“You’re lying.” 

“Nope.” 

“Yes, you are.” Snape pointed his wand at the map. “ _Revelio_.” 

To Harry’s surprise, black ink began dancing about the parchment, forming words. 

They read:  
_Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.  
Mr Prongs-  
_

Here, Harry gasped lightly. Snape hadn’t seemed to notice, however, as the insults were still being written by a seemingly invisible hand. 

_-agrees with Mr Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.  
Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.  
Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.  
_

Harry could barely contain a gleeful smile when the text faded away, but Snape was livid. He grasped onto Harry’s arm with a painful strength and yanked him down the hall. He seemed to be heading to the dungeons, and eventually, to his own office. 

When they arrived, Snape threw Harry down into a chair, the parchment onto the desk, and some of what Sirius had told him is called ‘Floo Powder’ into the fireplace. From there, he bellowed into it; 

“Lupin! I want a word.” There came no reply. Snape muttered something about how he must be at home and called out the address of the Lupin-Black’s residence. 

“Snivellus? What are you doing calling us?” squawked the voice of Sirius Black. 

“Pads, move out the way.” came Remus’s calming tones. Oddly enough, Harry could just about see his Professor’s face lurking in the flames of the fire. “What can I do for you, Severus?” he asked, wearily. 

“Come through the Floo, Lupin. I need to show you something.” There came a small _woosh_ and Moony came calmly through the fire and into the room. 

“What is it? Also, it’s Lupin-Black now. You always forget that.” He glanced at Harry. “Hello, Harry. What’re you doing here?” 

“I caught him with _this_.” Snape brandished the map, which only looked like a scrap of old parchment with some names written across the top. Harry watched on as the dawning of understanding crested on Remus’s face. “Do you know anything about it?” 

“Severus,” Remus sighed tiredly. “You interrupted my time with my husband to talk to me about a scrap of old parchment?” 

Snape’s face grew a dark shade of puce. “This is clearly dark magic, Lupin. When I tried to figure out what it was, it _insulted me_.” 

Remus scoffed. “Dark magic? It is clearly enchanted to insult whoever tries to figure out what it is, which is clearly something you would find in Zonko’s. May I remind you that Sirius is the manager of the Hogsmeade branch? Harry probably just got it from there last Hogsmeade weekend. Really, Severus, you’ve got to be joking.” 

Snape’s lip curled dangerously. “I will not be giving this back to Mr Potter, I don’t trust it.” 

“Give it to me, then. And if you don’t mind, Severus, I will figure out a way to punish him fairly, seeing as you seem to be rather tired.” said Remus. Snape looked as though he could blow something up, but stayed silent as he reluctantly handed the map over to the other Professor. 

“Seeing as Mr Potter is in my house, I will see to it that he is punished accordingly.” he practically growled. “Twenty points from Slytherin, for being out of bed, and another ten for being in possession of a suspicious item.” 

Remus nodded and gently took Harry’s arm. “Follow me to my office, Harry.” 

Harry obeyed and they began the long walk to Remus’s office. Once they got settled with crackling fire and some chocolate, Remus produced the map and stared at Harry speculatively. 

“You know who made this map?” he started, as if it wasn’t already obvious. 

“Yes.” Harry groused. 

“Where did you get it?” he pressed. When Harry wouldn’t answer, however, he receded. “What were you looking for? Lucius?” 

Harry all at once remembered what he saw and sat up straight in his chair. “No! I saw Pettigrew on the map! And when I got to the hallway he was in, I saw Scabbers!” 

Remus sat up straight in his chair also looking at Harry worriedly, now. “You’re sure?” he asked, voice stern. 

Harry nodded. “Absolutely.” 

Remus seemed to pause to think for a moment. “You don’t mind if I keep the map, do you, Harry?” Harry grimaced slightly. “You know I can’t let you keep it.” The corners of his mouth turned up a little in fond exasperation. “And anyway, I need it if I’m going to find Peter!” 

Harry smiled a little. “Fine. Take it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. It's been kind of an awful week, but I only have one left before half-term and I'll be writing a lot more then. How have you guys been? Also, question of the chapter, what are some of your favourite Drarry fics? I've been running low recently and could use some recommendations <3
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! It means so much to me xxx


	19. Chapter Nineteen

“I smell a rat, Moons.”

“Are you going to make that pun every time we run into a dead end?”

“Sorry! It’s just that the slippery bastard keeps running away!” Sirius groaned, running his hand through his thick hair.

Remus watched on sympathetically. “It’s annoying, I know, but at least we have the map. We know he’s still alive.”

Sirius growled. “He just knows whenever we’re coming.” 

“We could use the invisibility cloak?” Remus suggested. 

“He’s probably prepared for us to have that. He’ll only come out to people he doesn’t know…” Sirius’s eyes widened and he turned to Remus, who had the same expression. 

In about ten minutes, Draco was given a small stash of bread from the house elves and strict instructions to wait quietly for the rat to come out and get it. 

“He has to eat some time and we know from the house elves that rats are kept strictly out, so he must be hungry.” said Remus. “He’s a brown and white mouse and his tail looks a lot like a worm.” Draco grimaced. “He is also missing a finger, so keep an eye out for that. When you think you’ve found him, stun him or do something to keep him there, got it?” 

Draco nodded and crouched down until he was sitting on the floor. He didn’t know quite how long he would have to wait for Wormtail, but if he was as hungry as Remus said he’d be, it likely wouldn’t be long. 

Remus and Sirius left him with a quick ruffle of the hair and, just like that, he was alone. Waiting for a mass murderer in a deserted hallway. 

He crumbled the bread into sizable chunks and started moving them around into pictures. 

A smiley face, a heart, a snowflake. He had to scare off a few fully fingered rats along the way until finally, _finally_ , a timid, hungry looking thing began to nibble at the edges of his bread mural. 

Draco counted nine fingers. 

“Hey.” he whispered to it. “Hungry, are you?” He gathered some crumbles into a small pile and set them up in front of him. “Come ‘ere.” 

Slowly, it started to tiptoe over to him. It really was a gruesome looking thing. Hair was missing in some places and it had a mouth like an ass. 

The ass-mouth started to be filled with small crumbs of bread, and seemed wholly engrossed in the activity, because it didn’t notice when Draco took a deep breath and sent a small snow flurry over to it, cold enough to make it shiver and slow to a near stop. It could barely move when he finally whipped out his wand and stunned it. 

“ _Stupefy._ ” he cast, causing the thing to fall limply to the ground. “Gotcha.” Draco scooped it up and grinned. “Moony! Pads! I got him!” he called. 

They came rushing in immediately and looked over the mouse. 

“That’s him.” said Sirius in awe. 

“Okay, we need to find some sort of locked room.” 

“We could use the Charms classroom on the second floor?” Draco suggested, but Sirius interrupted him. 

“No, Star.” he chided. “You’ve gotten into enough trouble in your time here, leave this to us.” 

Draco slumped and Remus smirked. 

“Don’t worry, cub. I’m sure you’ll get into a lot more trouble soon enough.” 

*** 

“Alright.” Sirius growled. “What do we do with him now?” 

“I called the Aurors a while ago, they’re on their way.” 

“Why are we calling Aurors?” said Sirius. “We can handle this on our own!” 

“Sirius-“ Remus started. They were interrupted by a loud banging on the door. 

“Remus? Are you in there?” a Scottish voice called from behind the door. 

“Yeah, come in Minerva.” Remus replied. 

The Professor came in and surveyed the scene before her. The still alive body of her ex-student, bound and gagged in the corner, and his old best friends glaring daggers down at him. It made her sad, even more so than she had been after the whole affair. She could barely see the cocky children she had watched growing up anymore. She felt old. 

“Kingsley has just informed me that he is coming, they were just giving you two time to get information out of him, he reckoned Peter would be more likely to answer to you.” She clasped her hands together in front of her and ran the tip of her index fingers along her cuticles, a nervous gesture she picked up around the time when You-Know-Who originally rose to power. “What has he told you?” 

Remus sighed and tilted his head back - he looked as old as she felt. “Nothing we didn’t already know, or hadn’t already figured out, unfortunately.” He paused here to grab his husband’s hand. She smiled slightly, at least not all hope was lost. Remus turned to her with penetrating eyes. “He’s coming back isn’t he?” 

Minerva could see the glistening of tears in his eyes as she nodded slightly. “I think we would be naive to think otherwise.” 

Sirius spoke up in a broken voice. “But- how…?” 

“I don’t know.” she confessed, at the same time as Remus said in a grim tone: “He’ll find a way.” 

Sirius looked at Remus with such unwavering devotion that it made Minerva feel like crying like some childish schoolgirl. She really hoped the oncoming storm wouldn’t tear them apart. 

Kingsley and his team showed up and began to take Peter away when the real feeling of dread began to creep up Minerva’s spine. For, you see, she had assumed that the Aurors knew what to do about Peter’s animagus form, and had planned accordingly. Remus had said that they were aware of it, so she couldn’t quite account for what happened. 

At the time, it all seemed to occur in slow motion, like they were watching a modified memory of the event, rather than the real thing. 

The Aurors were moving out the door, keeping a death-like grip on Peter, when he seemed to shrink. Slowly, slowly, he began to shrink, and grow fur, and his nose elongated until he was in his rat form. She felt her body slump in exhaustion. What were they going to do now? 

He quickly darted down the hall, running away from the pack of Aurors, all firing stunning charms at him and missing. It would have been comical if it weren’t for the circumstances. 

Sirius kicked a wall and growled, low and loud. Minerva would do the same if it weren’t for her dignity. 

Dammit, she thought, they were so close. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! How are you guys?
> 
> PS. I know it’s kinda boring at this point, sorry! I have exciting things planned for the final part of PoA and I’m in the midst of writing it and the GoF should be pretty busy so just hang in there lol 
> 
> Thank you guys again for all the kudos, comments, bookmarks literally anything it makes me so happy all of it ❤️❤️


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shits about to get pretty angsty so enjoy this little bit of fluffy shmoopy shmoop with a little dusting of context driven angst...
> 
> Thank you thank youuuuuu

_1981: (Six Months Before. The War is looming.)_

Sirius was really nervous. Which didn’t go with his image at all. 

It wasn’t that he was nervous to marry Moony - he wasn’t. He loved him with all his heart and it had taken YEARS of convincing to get the werewolf to finally realise that was true and that he wanted to marry him. 

It was more that there was so much that could go wrong. What if he said he vows wrong? What if James messed up? What if he fell over while walking down the aisle? What if someone leaked the time and location of the party and the hoard of Death Eaters showed up?

At this thought, Sirius keeled over and began to take deep, suffocating breaths. 

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the warm face of James Potter grinning down at him.

“What’re you freaking out about, mate?” he scoffed. “I’m the one who has to make the big speech, you can just take it easy!”

Sirius slowed his breaths down enough to speak semi-normally. “Prongs, how did you deal with this?”

“Getting married?” Sirius nodded. “Well, I was a lot calmer than you are, that’s for sure. But I remember being really worried that Lily would decide that she actually didn’t want to marry me the second she got on the altar.”

Sirius practically heaved at that. James took note and looked more panicked. “But she did! In the end! And Moony _loves_ you, you’ve got nothing to worry about there.”

With the room spinning on its axis, Sirius was beginning to feel very dizzy, so closed his eyes and began focusing on other things. Chocolate cake, the wedding presents they’ll get to open afterwards. They remembered the delicate constellation tattoo on Remus’s ankle. And the matching one he had on his lower back. He and Remus were intertwined, always would be. This day meant nothing in the scheme of things, it was only another way to show that fact to the world. The day was fated. Nothing could go wrong.

There was a light knock on the door and the head Minerva McGonagall popped through.

“James,” she called, smiling. “You’ve got to go in now, I’ll take it from here.”

“You alright now, Pads?” James asked. 

Sirius nodded, actually believing it. “Yeah. I’m alright.”

As James and Minerva passed each other, they shared a look that Sirius couldn’t miss: a cheeky, inside grin that made it clear they were making fun of him a little. 

“You ready?” said Minnie.

Sirius stood up shakily and looked her dead in the eye, ignoring the small stinging of impending tears in the corner of his eye. 

“As I’ll ever be.”

As he walked down the aisle, Sirius couldn’t see what he was so worried about in the first place. While Moony hadn’t arrived yet, there were other things in the room he could use as anchors. McGonagall’s stead weight on the crook of his elbow, guiding him down the path, the two empty seats on his side of the room in the front row, reserved for Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, who he missed sorely, and James grinning at him like a loon and bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

He even focused on Peter, who stood waiting for him as his best man. 

When he finally made it to the end, Minnie kissed him on both cheeks and placed him in his spot to await Remus, who glided into the room only seconds after. 

He was breathtaking. His golden hair lay in a curly bush on top of his head, because Sirius had refused to let him style it for the wedding, and he was wearing a perfectly fitted muggle tux, mainly because Sirius had wanted to piss off his parents even more than he already was by marrying a male werewolf. But, the most breathtaking thing of all, were his deep, honey eyes that shone like stars, so brightly that he could see them from the other side of the hall. Either side of him, were his parents, who looked proud and happy, which was a nice change, and behind him was Lily, wearing a stunning red dress that complimented her hair perfectly, holding a bouquet and grinning even wider than her husband. Even seven months pregnant, Lily looked as young as the day they first met. 

As Remus got to the altar, Minerva leaned forward and muttered “You take care of him now, Mr Lupin.”

Sirius could see Moony’s eyes shine with mirth and tears as he replied “Of course, Professor.”

Hope and Lyall leaned over to him next, and whispered something similar. To which he, of course, said “He needs no taking care of, Mr and Mrs Lupin, but I’ll do my best.” They smiled at him gratefully and withdrew to their respective seats. As did McGonagall, who squeezed his arm before departed. 

Finally, he could turn his attention to the beautiful man in front of him.

“Hi.” he whispered.

Remus winked. “Hello.”

Okay. He couldn’t wait. Any longer. He had to be married to this incredible person.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to, as James began with a confident voice. “Ladies and gentlemen. We are gathered here today, under the sight of Merlin himself-” There came a low chuckle from the crowd. “-to unite these two persons in matrimony. Unfortunately, due to marriage laws in the muggle world, this ceremony could now be muggle, like the grooms wanted. However, my creativity and wit has devised a speech which similarly resembles that one, but has made a few important changes. But first, I would like to say a few words about my two best friends.” He cleared his throat for dramatic effect. “Remus John Lupin and Sirius Orion Black, are the two of the kindest, bravest, and most wonderful men I know, and I take it as the greatest honour that they chose me to officiate this ceremony. Now more than ever, we must take joy where we can find it. In the arms of our loved ones, in the comfort of our hopes and dreams, and in the happiness of others. Which is why this union is a most special one. Not only are Remus and Sirius made for each other, they are symbols of hope for all of us. There is a light at the end of this long tunnel, and we will get there if we keep holding on to each other.” 

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and Sirius regretted deciding not to bring a handkerchief because the tears were trickling down his cheeks. He felt, however, the pad of Remus’s thumb wipe them away. He met eyes with his soon-to-be husband and felt such a wave of emotion that he had never felt before. Could it be - hope? Just like James was talking about? 

“Now,” James boomed, fighting past his own weepy eyes and giving a watery smile. “For the main event. Remus, you will go first. Repeat after me. I, Remus John Lupin.”

“I, Remus John Lupin.”

“Affirm my love for you, Sirius Orion Black.”

“Affirm my love for you, Sirius Orion Black.”

“And promise to love, cherish, honour and trust you through everything.”

“And promise to love, cherish, honour and trust you through everything.”

“Through light and dark.”

“Through light and dark.”

“For richer or poorer.”

“For richer or poorer.”

“For all eternity.”

“For all eternity.” On the last line, Remus held onto his hands tighter, like he was afraid he would slip away. 

“Now, Sirius, it’s your turn.” James gave him an encouraging smile. “Repeat after me.”

Sirius couldn’t remember actually saying his own vows, although he knew that they were the same as Remus’s, and that he meant every word. It was almost like he blacked out, because the next thing he remembered was the exchanging of rings.

Both of them had chosen simple platinum bands for each other, but on the inside had engraved stars and moons to make them more personal. 

James grinned excitedly. “Remus John Lupin, do you take Sirius Orion Black to be your lawfully and magically wedded husband?”

Remus breathed shakily, lip quirking slightly. “I do.”

“And do you, Sirius Orion Black, take Remus John Lupin to be your lawfully and magically wedded husband?”

“I do.” Sirius could fly; he was so happy.

“And now, by the tutelage of Dumbledore, the power of Merlin, magic, and love beyond comprehension, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss one another.” 

As they kissed, Sirius could feel the Earth’s curve beneath his feet. The dawning of a new hope settled in his chest like the coming of a fresh day, but an ominous tugging of apprehension toyed with his gut. He batted it away, however, and focused solely on his husband, and the little family he was growing for himself. 


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

Roger Davies didn’t feel very confident about Ravenclaw’s chances at winning the House Cup. They were up against Slytherin for the deciding match, who not only had the greatest Chaser Hogwarts had seen since James Potter himself in Draco Malfoy, who he himself could absolutely not compete with, but also had said Chaser’s son Harry Potter, who, although he would never say this to Cho, was the best Seeker he had ever seen.    


He also hadn’t said any of his concerns to his team, mostly because they were smart enough to know already. Nevertheless, here they were, late on a Tuesday night, practising as hard as they always did, regardless of the fact that it would all be in vain.

Roger was focused mainly on Cho, who had been practising hard since she made the team, but wasn’t quite at the right standard just yet, when he saw an odd rustle on the opposite end of the field. He looked to the bottom of the Gryffindor stands, where he saw the rustle again.

Someone was in the stand.

He gestured for Burrow to come closer and pointed him towards the strange rusting. They locked eyes. Roger raised his eyebrow in question to which Burrow responded with a tight nod as he flew off to alert his team. In minutes they were on the ground, pretending to be unaware of the rusting, chatting as if they knew nothing of it and had just decided to turn in early, walking up to the castle.

When they got to the door, Roger rushed to Flitwick’s office.

“Sir, we saw something down on the pitch.” he panted.

“Mr Davies, are you quite alright?”

“I think someone’s hiding under the Quidditch stands.”

Understanding dawned on Flitwick’s face as he nodded curtly. “I will take care of this. Thank you, Mr Davies. You are dismissed.”

A few hours later, the Prefects of each house were alerted to ensure all of the students were in the common rooms, safe and secure until they could figure out what was wrong.

As Roger sat in his dorm, looking out over the grounds, he tried to catch a glimpse of the pitch, but couldn’t quite see enough.

“Stop torturing yourself.” sighed David, as he plopped himself next to him.

“I’m just worried.” he replied, working his lip between his teeth. A clap of thunder sounded outside and a storm began to form. “Merlin.”

“You’ve done all you can. Just focus on keeping yourself safe now.” 

Roger nodded and looked out at the storm once more, focusing on a raindrop and watching as it fell down the window pane. “I know. I’ll calm down.”

***

Harry scanned the busting crowds of Slytherin students as they swarmed into the common room. Among them, he couldn’t see one glimpse of platinum hair. He was beginning to properly worry, when he was tugged backwards suddenly and came face to face with the boy he was looking for.

“Harry I need to ask you a favor.” said Draco.

“Where were you?”

“Snape had to talk to me.” The boy tugged on the crook of his arm and led him to a secluded area. “Someone reckons they’ve seen Lucius.”

“What?” Harry whisper-shouted, but Draco covered his mouth.   


“Let me finish. They think they’ve seen Lucius, so everyone’s going to look for him. I think I’ll be the best help, so I want to borrow your invisibility cloak. Please.” 

Draco finally released his mouth and Harry word-vomited. “Are you crazy? No, I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger like that!”

“Please!” The blond pleaded. “I really want to see him, I can get him to tell us what he wants!”

“You’re crazy.”

“Is this any crazier than you taking down a three headed dog and then descending into an unknown trapdoor all with the intention of stopping your crazy teacher from stealing a stone?” Harry tried to protest but Draco continued. “Or you insist that the only way we can get to Hogwarts is if we  _ flew my dad’s motorcycle there _ . Or! Or! When you found a scary looking diary and wrote in it, and then proceeded to allow it to show you a memory? OR when you forced us to go and save a girl we barely knew from a mountain troll?” 

Harry seethed. “I don’t think this is safe.”

“Barely anything we do is.” He took a few moments to catch his breath. “Please, Harry. For me?” 

***

Draco tore off the cloak and stood in the pouring rain, allowing the wind to nearly sweep him off his feet.

“Lucius?” he called, into for what he knew could be empty space. He was stood down by Hagrid’s hut, just outside the forbidden forest, because he knew that Hagrid would be a part of the search party. “LUCIUS?” 

“Draco.” There came a harsh whisper from just beyond the border of the forest. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Come out.” Draco commanded, surprised by how in-control his voice sounded. 

“What? So you can hex me? No chance, I don’t have any means of defending myself.” The voice growled.

“Come out, or I’ll get the Dementors right now.” 

Slowly, over the sound of the howling wind, Draco could just make out a sigh of defeat, and a haggard, old man came hobbling out of the forest, arms held up in mock surrender.

He looked even worse than when Draco last saw him. Lucius was clearly on the verge of death. So thin Draco could see his ribcage through his tattered shirt, and so unclean that Draco could barely see his own face mirrored back at him, at least he had that comfort.

“What are you doing here?” demanded Draco. 

Lucius seemed to inspect his wrist and pick away at some dirt while he answered. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” 

“About how I got out.”

“I don’t want to know.”   


“You had a dream, did you not?” Lucius looked up at him now. Draco could just make out a glint of knowledge in his eye, and found himself subconsciously leaning forward. He yanked himself back.

“I don’t want to know.” he repeated, firmer this time. 

“Really?” Lucius asked, moving closer himself. “Because I think you do.”

“No. I don’t.” 

“Then why are you still having a conversation with me? Are you just stalling until the Dementors get here?” The man in front of Draco was probably the scariest sight that he had ever encountered, even more so that the Basilisk he had faced last year. 

He was about to answer the question with a rebuttal when Lucius’s face stilled completely, unnaturally so, and he fell backwards. He had been stunned.

Draco whipped his head around to figure out what had hit him, he saw Remus, looking more furious than he had ever seen him, pointing his wand directly at Lucius, and advancing quickly. Behind him, was Sirius, who looked livid also, and had his wand aloft too, prepared to step in if Remus were disarmed. Although it looked like there was no danger of that, as Remus seemed to be in full control over the situation.

“ _ Incarcerous _ .” he snapped, voice low and growly, with a scary edge that Draco had never heard before. 

Sirius stepped up to Draco’s side and held him back.

“How did you find me?” Draco asked exasperatedly. 

Sirius gripped his shoulder harder. “We found you on the map.” he looked to grit his teeth. “This is really stupid, Star. What were you thinking?”

In anger, Draco slapped his dad’s arm off him and turned around to get in his face, he was vaguely aware that, behind him, his other dad was interrogating Lucius viciously. 

“I was thinking that I could be the one who could get him to talk. And I was before you arrived.”

“He could have killed you.”

“You know as well as I do that I am more than capable of defending myself!” Draco shouted, throat tightening slightly as though there was some long cord being looped around it. 

“You think that because you’ve seen some shIt that it makes you invincible?” Sirius retorted, face tightly wound and ferocious. “You’re not God, Draco.”

“But I am powerful.” He lowered his voice to a regular talking level now, it was barely audible, however, over the howling storm. A small part of his brain registered the rain splattering on his face, and the light of a bright moon illuminating the land. “I know that. And you do too.” 

Sirius looked as though he didn’t know quite what to say. As though he was figuring out how to proceed in his head but didn’t quite know. Quite suddenly, though, Remus stopped his yelling enough for the confused man and Draco to turn their attention to him. 

A dawning realisation had seemingly just hit him, and he stared up at the moon as though it was a death sentence. “Sirius.” he murmured, low and foul. “Get Draco back up to the castle. And Lucius too, for that matter. He doesn’t need to get caught in the crossfire.”   


Sirius caught on as he found the moon to be full and bright. “Didn’t you drink your wolfsbane?”

“I was about to.” Remus’s face spasmed. “I got interrupted by McGonagall’s search team.” 

Draco’s dad left his side immediately and ran towards his husband, grasping him pleadingly. “Remus. Remus don’t do this. You aren’t the beast you change into.” He grasped the werewolf’s head and moved it to face his own, but Remus’s eyes were unseeing. He started to writhe and growl and thrash as though something was trying to escape his chest. “Please, Remus. You have a heart and a soul and you can resist it. Try. Please.” None of the words that Sirius was saying were getting through. Remus continued to change. He started scratching at his chest, desperately, leaving behind raw skin and the occasional spot of blood, from what Draco could see in the moonlight. 

“Dad!” he yelled, the tears finally falling free. “Dad, please. Fight it.” 

“Draco, run.” Sirius commanded.

“No, I’m staying here.” 

“RUN!” he roared. “RUN. NOW.” Suddenly, Sirius changed into Padfoot, in preparation for Remus, who looked as though he were on the brink of the full transformation. He seemed to be holding it off, however.

“Run… Draco.” Remus managed to choke out between cries of agony and bloodthirsty snarls. “Please.”

Draco didn’t bother to fight this time, but also didn’t intend to run all the way back up to the castle, so safely hid himself behind a random tree about fifty meters away. There, though, surprisingly, he found himself confronted with the deathly pale face of Harry, who he had thought he had left at the castle.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed. Only now noticing the invisibility cloak, clenched into a small ball of fabric in his fist. He passed it to Harry, who threw it over the two of them.

“I came to help you.” he said. “I couldn’t stand being up there on my own.” A part of his expression suggested to Draco that he was quite excited by all the drama.

“Please go, Harry.” Draco asked, pushing him away slightly with his fingertips.

“No. I’m staying right here.”  _ Merlin _ , Draco could see why his dads were so annoyed by his defiance earlier. It was exhausting.

“I’m begging you, Harry. Go up to the castle. Get into bed. Please. I’ll be fine.” He wasn’t about to explain to Harry the exact reason why he knew that he would be fine - that he had ice powers that he’d been building up tucked in his back pocket, but felt that the point should be suggested nonetheless.

“No, we do everything as a team, we work better that way!” he insisted.

“Leave.”

“No.”   


“Harry-”

“I’m not going.” 

Draco sighed angrily and rubbed the drops of sweat that were forming on his forehead, mixed with the rain which had drenched his face. “Harry, they’re  _ my _ family. You have to let me deal with this.” he yelled this. Which probably made it even worse. The second it came out his mouth he knew he should take it back, and the look on Harry’s face, one of betrayal and upset, proved that even more. “Harry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it-”

“No… I get it. It’s fine.” Harry started to back away slightly, causing the cloak to slip off of Draco entirely. “I’ll just go back up to the castle then.” He went to turn away, but Draco grabbed his arm, and was about to apologise again when a dark shadow of sadness eclipsed the moon and plunged the grove into darkness. He looked up, and found only what he was dreading to see - an army of Dementors approaching at a rapid pace and heading towards them. 

“Harry.” he warned. “Look.” Harry turned to see, and when he did, nearly fell over in shock.

“There are so many of them.” he murmured numbly. 

“They’re here for Lucius.” Draco realised, but that thought was quickly discarded when a few dementors shifted course and seemed to head in their direction, and he realised that it didn’t matter. Dementors feasted where they would get more food, and currently he and Harry had more soul than Lucius did. “Harry we have to go.”   


“Oh  _ we _ now, is it?” 

“Harry, it’s not the time, let’s go!” Draco was about to start dragging Harry away when he halted. His biological father was standing alone, gagged and bound in an open plain, just waiting for the army of Dementors to descend and suck out his soul. Realistically, that shouldn’t be an issue. Draco should be glad that the whole matter would be put to rest once and for all. But a small feeling of guilt crept up in his chest like a disease. It felt so unfair. Lucius should spend his last few minutes with a soul, at least using it. “I’m letting him go.”

Draco turned about, sprinted towards the struggling figure standing at the edge of the forest and inspected the ropes. The ones that Remus cast were thick, but not impossible to break. Draco froze them a little to make them brittle and snapped them with a quick  _ Diffindo _ . As he worked he panted instructions to Lucius. “You probably aren’t going to make it out of this, but I want to give you a chance. Run, as fast as you can. And if you do get out of this… ” Lucius stared him in the eye, those grey eyes so haunting and lifeless. “If you get out of this… please try to do the right thing for once.”

Lucius looked so desperate that when he nodded Draco couldn’t believe him sincere, but let him go anyway. What he did wasn’t quite a run, but it was clearly his top speed, seeing as he was severely malnourished, sleep-deprived and out of practise. Draco doubted Lucius would make it through the next few minutes. But he gave him hope, and that was what mattered. 

Another thing that probably mattered where the large group of Dementors that now saw him and Harry, who had apparently joined him at some point, as more worthwhile prey, and where getting scarily close, their rattling breaths giving Draco goosebumps. He wouldn't have thought that there was a way to make him feel any more awful than he was already feeling, but he would be wrong, because the Dementors made him feel like there wasn’t anything he could do anymore. That he was spent. But his rational brain screamed at him to use his wand, and to get Harry to do this same.

“Patronus?” he suggested, attempting to nudge Harry in the side, but instead hit empty air, as Harry was on the floor writhing, as if in a bad dream. All of a sudden, a particular arms spasm seemed to shoot off strange looking sparks, and the next one, even bigger sparks. On the third one, Draco was ready to return his attention to the Dementors, but was distracted by a nearby tree being engulfed wholly by flames. The intimate feeling of a Dementor brushing against his wand arm brought Draco back to his senses. “ _ Expecto Patronum _ .” he cast, focusing entirely on the memory of his first time at Hogwarts and the welcoming feast and meeting Harry. It worked, thankfully, and his doe Patronus chased away the stragglers. 

At last, Draco could breathe. He collapsed next to Harry and held his writhing body closer, not being physically able to summon the energy to move, much less to move another person as well, as it didn’t seem to be that Harry was in any state to move himself. 

He focused on the sounds around him: the pounding rain that splattered across his drenched, shivering body, the roar of the nearby fire that was so strangely summoned in some powerful accidental magic, and his own shallow breathing, sounding unnervingly like a Dementor’s. Although that could have just been him hearing the Dementors returning from kissing Lucius. 

He was too shattered to care, and the blackness of sleep engulfed him happily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this chapter is a little patchy. I'm doing my best :)
> 
> How are you guys, anyway? Y'all have been a bit quiet x I hope you're good, half term is over for me now so we have to start up at school again but with the second lockdown I honestly wonder how long that's going to last. How was Halloween for you guys? My friend and I made shortbread and cinnamon rolls (they were really good) and then I spent most of the morning writing this. I really hope it's okay I've planned this one out for a while and I usually have my sister proofread for me but she's asleep so I don't want to wake her up and I wanted to get it posted so ahh haha
> 
> Please keep me entertained! I love seeing the little notification that comes up on my phone when I've got a new comment xxx


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Draco awoke as if it were an emergency. The back of his head rested against a firm pillow, not the similar soft material of his own sheets that he had grown so accustomed to in the Slytherin dorms, so something felt different. Actually, a lot felt different. Despite the fact that he had woken up in a hospital bed, where the room was so deprived of personality the only word that could possibly be used to describe it was  _ ‘drab’ _ , Draco felt light, giddy even. 

“Huh?” he subconsciously mumbled, pulling himself up with the push of his arms. Draco grunted slightly as he leant up against the cold, metal bed rest - it stung his back. He ran a cold hand through his now slightly tousled hair and surveyed his surroundings, his cheerfulness fighting away any symptoms of a foggy brain and his thick headache. 

“Look who’s woken up.” Squinting his eyes, making out the blurry figure of Madam Pomfrey, who held a large bottle containing a substance Draco couldn’t recognise through his sleepy state, his cracked lips pursed into a tight line. “Ooh. You look miserable.” She laughed, a loud sound for so early in the morning. Or, at least, he assumed it was morning. He truly did not know. “Don’t worry, love, that is to be expected.”   


“What happened?” Draco questioned, utterly baffled. He remembered only frames, his dad changing, Lucius escaping, the hoard of Dementors, but they were all out of chronological order and appeared to him randomly.

“What happened, indeed.” she murmured in response. “You deplenished a bit of your magic. It’s fine, you only needed a little bit of potion from Professor Snape, that’s why you must be feeling quite strange right now. It’s your friend, Harry, who’s a little worse for wear.” At Draco widened eyes and sharp intake of breath, she seemed to realise what she said and continued quickly. “He’s fine, dear, don’t worry! He’s still asleep but you can see him in a few hours.” 

Draco slumped back on his pillow and sighed. If only he could remember what had happened, but it all seemed misty. 

“Where are my dads?” he asked.

“They’ll be here in any minute, love.” And she was right. Practically seconds later, Sirius and Remus stormed into the curtained area he was stationed in and rushed to his bedside.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Remus asked, a panicky edge to his voice that Draco didn’t like to hear. Sirius was checking him over, as if in disbelief.

“I’m okay, guys, really.” said Draco, but it didn’t really matter. Neither of them stopped. 

“You gave us a right fright, you did, Star.” Sirius chided. 

“I’m fine.” Draco groaned, it was half-hearted though, and he cracked into a smile halfway through. 

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see you up and walking again.” said Remus, who gave a quick kiss to his forehead. 

“Have you seen Harry?” he asked. 

“Yeah, he’s still asleep.” said Sirius. He moved his hand to Draco’s forehead and started up a petting motion that seemed to calm his nerves.

“And are you two okay? I don’t quite know what happened, but I remember it was something to do with Lucius, and Dementors, and I think I remember you changing at one point, Moony.” Draco squeezed his eyes shut and yawned widely.

“You’re tired, Star. Why don’t we tell you later?” 

“No, I wanna know.” he protested, fighting back a second yawn. “I’ll stay awake I promise-” He was interrupted by a large wave of exhaustion that washed over him. His eyelids turned heavy but he fought back, urging himself to stay awake. 

“Go to sleep, honey. Your magical core is still strengthening, let it rest.” 

Draco could just move his head enough to nod before sleep engulfed him like a warm blanket. 

***

Hours later, Draco awoke. He turned his head slightly and found that Harry had too, and was gazing at him. 

“Hello.” he said, shortly. In his sleep, a dream had come forward, or perhaps it was a memory. It felt real, of Harry being angry at him. Well, it certainly seemed real now, as Harry looked sad and distant, not as joyful as he should have been, for having apparently nearly escaped death. 

Suddenly, the memory came flooding back to him as though a dam had broken in his mind. He remembered what he had said, and shame engulfed him similarly to the way sleep had earlier. 

Draco scrambled out of bed and flung himself into the chair beside Harry’s bed.

“I’m so sorry, Harry.” he pleaded. 

Harry gave him a half smile. “It’s okay, I understand.” 

“No, what I said was horrible, and mean. Of course Sirius and Remus are your family!” Draco grasped Harry hand in his, held it to his lips and kissed his knuckles. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay, Draco. Really, it is.” said Harry, smiling properly just a little at Draco’s kiss. 

“You must be so upset with me.” 

Harry lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. “I was, or at least, I think I was. I don’t remember much from last night. Only that one memory and one of me standing by a tree. But I don’t know how I got there.” His brows furrowed in the cutest way.

“I don’t remember much either, but it’s coming back to me.” Draco stroked Harry’s hand against his face back and forth. “I really am sorry, Harry.”

“I forgive you, Draco.” He grinned at him lopsidedly. 

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Harry brought Draco's hand up to his face and kissed the back. Draco smiled.

“I’m sorry, Harry. But I have to be honest, I find it hard to see you as my brother.” Draco’s expression turned serious and he met Harry’s eyes. They lost their twinkle and the boy seemed to deflate.

“That’s okay, I get it.” 

Draco smirked. “You know why, though, don’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s because we aren’t really family, so you can’t see me that way.”   


“No, it’s because, if we were brothers, it would be really weird if I did this.” Draco leaned forward and kissed Harry deeply, carding his hands through his unruly hair. As their lips parted, he slid his tongue into the other boy’s mouth and touched the tip of it to Harry’s, causing both of them to moan lightly. When they separated, they both looked frazzled and dizzily happy. 

“You are definitely forgiven after that.”

They both giggled and blushed. 

“Can I ask you something?” Harry asked nervously.

“Sure.” he replied, squeezing his hand.

“If we’re not brothers, what are we?” 

Draco blushed deeper and smiled even bigger. “I don’t know, Harry, what do you want us to be?” 

Harry let out a shaky breath. “Okay. Draco Malfoy...” he started.

“Yes.”

“...will you…”

“U-huh?”

“...do me the very great honour…”

“Mhmm”

“...of being my official boyfriend?” 

Draco assumed a stance of mock consideration before leaping onto Harry and kissing him hard. “Of course, you idiot.” 

They started kissing again but were interrupted by a pointed cough coming from behind them. Draco turned to see Madam Pomfrey looking stern.

She pointed to Draco’s bed. “In bed, now, Mr Malfoy.” 

Draco flung himself into bed and smiled at Harry cheekily. Madam Pomfrey was a scary woman, but before she left, Draco could swear he saw a small hint of a smile in her eyes. 

***

Images of the night before returned to both Draco and Harry in the following days. All adults they asked avoided questions about it, so they had to rely on their own memory alone, and every single one was shocking. 

They both remember perhaps the most shocking one at the same time.

“Did you… set a tree on fire?” Draco asked incredulously, staring at Harry as though he had grown a second head. Harry’s eyes widened as he nodded suspiciously.

“I...think I did…? I don’t know how, though. I was feeling really freaked out, because of the Dementors, and I heard my mum screaming, and I felt this anger coursing through me… and… I think I lashed out or something because the next thing I knew the Dementors were gone and there was a tree on fire.” Harry blinked a few times and looked to Draco in utter bafflement. 

Draco gnawed on his lip. “Harry, I think there’s something going on that we don’t know about.”   


“Agreed.” 

Draco told Harry everything. All about his suspected ice powers, and about what he saw in the Mirror, everything. 

Harry was shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

Draco shrugged. “I don’t know… I think I liked having something to myself.”   


“That makes sense.” he pursed his lips. “So… I set a tree on fire… and you’ve been making snow appear out of nowhere… I can’t feel it when I put my hand in a fire… you can’t feel it when Sirius throws a snowball in your face…” Harry’s eyes widened. “And do you remember that time when you all told us to turn the fire off and then you couldn’t remember it afterwards?”

Draco racked his brain. “I… think so?” 

“Something’s going on.”

“Do you want to ask Pads and Moony?”

“I doubt they’d tell us.”

“We should at least try.” 

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

So Harry and Draco marched themselves up from the Slytherin dormitories to Remus’s office, only to find him packing up his things.

“Dad? What are you doing?” Draco asked. 

Remus sighed, sadly. “I was going to tell you later, honey. I’m sorry, but I’ve resigned.”   


“What? Why?” Harry exclaimed. “You’re the best teacher we’ve ever had!”   


Remus smiled. “Thanks, Harry, but I think it’s better that none of you are in danger.”

“What? From you? You’re not dangerous, dad!” 

The man gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk and sat in the one behind it. Draco and Harry occupied them, staring at him expectantly. 

“What happened the other night… it was awful, and I feel so guilty about it. I should’ve taken my potion, I shouldn't've neglected it, it completely slipped my mind. I can’t afford to have that lapse of judgement again, and I won’t put you all in danger if I do.” He crossed over to the boys and leaned on the other side of his desk. “And there are more important things going on right now, and I think it’s best if I watch from the sidelines.”

The three left those words hanging in the air before Draco spoke up timidly. 

“Are you talking about me and Harry?” he asked.

Remus looked into his eyes and grimaced. He looked a little like he was in pain. “What do you guys know?”

They filled him in on everything and when they were done Remus looked just about ready to jump out the window. Or at least throw up into a bucket. Draco conjured one for him and placed it on his desk, and Remus gave him a wry smile.

“I think you guys are ready to know everything.” he sighed.

“Now?”

Remus hesitated for a moment, before nodding quickly. “ Yes. Now.” He sent off a Patronus to Sirius and Dumbledore and dragged them all down to the headmaster’s office.

“Ahh.” said the old wizard when they got there, for once in his life looking less than amused. “So you’re ready, are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally posted this on CoS which is absolutely hilarious so sorry about that
> 
> PoA is over!! Oh my lord this has taken it out of me. GoF is going to be epic, if everything goes according to plan. Thanks for sticking with it, I know I've been a little off it lately.
> 
> A little life update with me, it was my birthday on Friday, I turned sixteen, which is fun, and we got a puppy on Saturday, which is also fun. Her name is Margot she's a shitzu. How are you guys?
> 
> Thanks again for everything, you guys, I know I say it a lot but what the hell.
> 
> Keep an eye out for the next instalment.
> 
> Bye bye xxx


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